Performing a system restore after a disk defragmentation.

[Guest]

It was recommended to me that I turn off the system restore feature of
Windows XP because it can be dangerous to use after a disk defragmentation
was performed. It was explained that since everything is moved around during
a disk defragmentation to more efficiently utilize space, using “System
Restore†after would attempt to restore files that have been relocated.
Since “System Restore†would be unable to locate the files, they would be
treated like orphans-leaving you with an empty disk. I was wondering if this
was true or just urban legend? If truly hypothetical, would the cost/benefit
of leaving system restore on be greater or worse than shutting it down? Any
assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

System Restore stores it restore points in a folder.
It does not matter how often you defrag your drive,
System Restore will always work since the restore
points are contained in a folder. It does not matter
where the folder is positioned on the drive partition.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

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| It was recommended to me that I turn off the system restore feature of
| Windows XP because it can be dangerous to use after a disk defragmentation
| was performed. It was explained that since everything is moved around during
| a disk defragmentation to more efficiently utilize space, using “System
| Restore†after would attempt to restore files that have been relocated.
| Since “System Restore†would be unable to locate the files, they would be
| treated like orphans-leaving you with an empty disk. I was wondering if this
| was true or just urban legend? If truly hypothetical, would the cost/benefit
| of leaving system restore on be greater or worse than shutting it down? Any
| assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Glen]

Whatever peoples feelings of system restore (and you will find strong for
and against) it has got me out of trouble on more than one occasion and I
defragment regularly. If you have the room on your hard drive why not leave
it on. If you need it you have got it and even if it doesn't work you
haven't lost anything as you would only be rolling your system back if it
was broken. If system restore doesn't work you could then use a backup or
some other precautionary measure you should have taken.


Glen

 

[Ken Blake]

In

It was recommended to me that I turn off the system restore
feature of
Windows XP

Bad advice.

because it can be dangerous to use after a disk
defragmentation was performed.

No, not true.

It was explained that since
everything is moved around during a disk defragmentation to
more
efficiently utilize space, using "System Restore" after would
attempt
to restore files that have been relocated.

No, System Restore doesn't restore based on the physical location
the file was in before and this is not a problem at all.

Realize that files can get moved to different physical locations
all the time, even without defragging. If you edit a word
processing file and make it bigger, it may be written back to a
different place on the disk and so on. This isn't a problem. The
operating system system keeps track of where things are and
System restore finds what it needs.

Since "System Restore"
would be unable to locate the files, they would be treated like
orphans-leaving you with an empty disk. I was wondering if
this was
true or just urban legend? If truly hypothetical, would the
cost/benefit of leaving system restore on be greater or worse
than
shutting it down?

System Restore is far from a perfect tool, and unfortunately it
sometimes fails to work. Nevertheless it *usually* works and when
it does, it can be a lifesaver. It's fine to decrease the amount
of disk space it takes (12% of the drive is too much), but it
should always be left on. It doesn't hurt you and can often help.

 

[Alex Nichol]

It was recommended to me that I turn off the system restore feature of
Windows XP because it can be dangerous to use after a disk defragmentation
was performed. It was explained that since everything is moved around during
a disk defragmentation to more efficiently utilize space, using “System
Restore†after would attempt to restore files that have been relocated.

That is sheer and total nonsense. The physical location of individual
files is of no interest to System Restore