Restore point settings

[slick1]

In order to free up space on my HD, could I and would it be ok to reduce
the amount of space allocated to system restore from what the Windows default
setting is?

I would like have just enough restore space left for only a couple of restore points. If this is ok to do, how does one go about reducing this space and what % amount would be safe enuogh to do this?
System: Acer 2451 Travelmate laptop

Windows XP Home SP2
Explorer 7

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

the amount of space allocated to system restore from what the Windows default
setting is?

Yes, you can, and probably should, reduce the space. But if I were
you, I'd want to have more than a couple of restore points.

In practice you can seldom go back more than a week or two, because
any more than that and your registry gets out of synch with everything
else. So allocating space for more than a dozen or so restore points
is a waste. So I would give it just 1-2GB.

 

[Nepatsfan]

the amount of space allocated to system restore from what the Windows default
setting is?
Windows XP Home SP2
Explorer 7

You can reduce the amount of hard drive space allocated to System Restore by
doing the following.

Go to Control Panel and double click on the System icon.
In System Properties, click on the System Restore tab.
In the Available drive box, click on the C drive and hit the Settings button.
Move the slider to the left.
Reducing the space allocated to 1GB (1000MB) should leave you with around 2
weeks worth of restore points.

If you're looking to reclaim more space, look into reducing the size of the
Internet Explorer cache and the amount of HD space allocated to the Recycle bin.

You can also turn off hibernation if you do not use this feature. You'll gain
space equal to the amount of memory installed on your laptop.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Alan]

Hi Ken,

Regarding going back more than a couple of weeks in SR, if the registry is
going to get out of synch with everything else aren't users being lulled
into a somewhat false sense of security?

In the time I've maintained XP machines, there have been a couple of
occasions when I wanted to bring clients' PCs back to where they were two
months prior.

The clients actually had RPs going back nearly 3 months, and when I restored
back two months before, everything worked fine.

Were I -- and my clients -- just lucky?

Alan

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Hi Ken,

Regarding going back more than a couple of weeks in SR, if the registry is
going to get out of synch with everything else aren't users being lulled
into a somewhat false sense of security?

In the time I've maintained XP machines, there have been a couple of
occasions when I wanted to bring clients' PCs back to where they were two
months prior.

The clients actually had RPs going back nearly 3 months, and when I restored
back two months before, everything worked fine.

Were I -- and my clients -- just lucky?

Ask for cites. My experience mirrors yours.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi Ken,

Regarding going back more than a couple of weeks in SR, if the registry is
going to get out of synch with everything else aren't users being lulled
into a somewhat false sense of security?

In the time I've maintained XP machines, there have been a couple of
occasions when I wanted to bring clients' PCs back to where they were two
months prior.

The clients actually had RPs going back nearly 3 months, and when I restored
back two months before, everything worked fine.

Were I -- and my clients -- just lucky?

I certainly don't claim that going back two months is *always* going
to cause a problem. My point is rather that the farther back you go,
the more likely an out-of-synch condition, and resulting problems, is.
I'm glad to hear that you didn't have a problem the couple of times
you did this. But whether they were lucky has a lot to do with how
many and which changes they had made during that time. If you don't
make many changes during the period, you can get away with going back
farther. But the chances of success get poorer the farther back you
go.

 

[Bert Kinney]

How to Adjust the amount of disk space System Restore uses to hold restore
points:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/diskspace.html

Tips for adjusting disk space usage!
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/healthy.html#Adjust

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.net

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Alan,

This suggests that there where little or no changes made to the system in
that time period.

What should I do after restoring my system to an earlier date?
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html#13

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.net

Hi Ken,

Regarding going back more than a couple of weeks in SR, if the registry is
going to get out of synch with everything else aren't users being lulled
into a somewhat false sense of security?

In the time I've maintained XP machines, there have been a couple of
occasions when I wanted to bring clients' PCs back to where they were two
months prior.

The clients actually had RPs going back nearly 3 months, and when I restored
back two months before, everything worked fine.

Were I -- and my clients -- just lucky?

Alan