System Restore on XP PRO

[JAS]

I know this has been asked before but I can not remember where. When I
try to restore to an earlier date and pick a point, it always goes
through the process but when it reboots it says it was unable to restore
to that date and I pick another but the same thing happens. I have
system restore set to ON,disk space to use set at max,91.0 GB of free
space on a 149.0 GB drive. I can not remember when it quit working but
used to have no trouble. Any hints?

Thanks,

JAS

 

[David H. Lipman]

I know this has been asked before but I can not remember where. When I
try to restore to an earlier date and pick a point, it always goes
through the process but when it reboots it says it was unable to restore
to that date and I pick another but the same thing happens. I have
system restore set to ON,disk space to use set at max,91.0 GB of free
space on a 149.0 GB drive. I can not remember when it quit working but
used to have no trouble. Any hints?

Thanks,

JAS

Do it from Safe Mode.

 

[Tecknomage]

I know this has been asked before but I can not remember where. When I
try to restore to an earlier date and pick a point, it always goes
through the process but when it reboots it says it was unable to restore
to that date and I pick another but the same thing happens. I have
system restore set to ON,disk space to use set at max,91.0 GB of free
space on a 149.0 GB drive. I can not remember when it quit working but
used to have no trouble. Any hints?

Thanks,

JAS

First, Windows Restore is *almost* useless (IMHO).

It is intended to be used SOON after making a change in your system
and you find something is screwed. Like just after Windows Updates,
although you can remove an update using Add/Remove Programs.

It is more useful just after you install an app, find something
doesn't work, remove the app and still have problems. Then Restore
MAY be useful. Note the "may." It will be useful IF you manually
made a Restore Point BEFORE installing the app.

IMPORTANT: System Restore should NEVER be used if you suspect you
have a virus! It is NOT an anti-virus tool.



Having a good backup utility is the absolutely best way for restoring
your system. And by "good" I mean an *image backup* utility, NOT a
file backup.

An image backup utility takes a "snap shot" of *sectors* on your hard
drive (not just files) which means you have your boot sector and
everything else. The most efficient will image only used sectors, not
the entire drive (used and blank).

I use "O&O DiskImage Pro" (compatible with all versions of Windows):
http://www.oo-software.com/en/products/oodiskimage/index.html

It has saved my WinXP SP3 desktop 2 times in the *years* I've use it.
I also use it to load a new hard drive (I needed a bigger one),
connected the new drive (IDE HD0) jumpered just like the old one,
booted to the DiskImage CD, recovered my backup to the new drive
(DiskImage asked if I wanted it bootable, yes of course) booted to the
drive with absolutely no problems. Already had a partition tool (link
follows) (Windows Disk Management cannot do this) installed and use it
to expand the used space to include the entire (now bigger) drive.

EaseUS Partition Master Professional Edition:
http://www.partition-tool.com/professional.htm


Purchase of "O&O DiskImage Pro" includes a Boot ISO image you can
write to a CD/DVD. Boot to the CD and it runs the ENTIRE DiskImage
utility (Backup AND Recovery). I use this method to create backups to
an external USB hard drive.

The Windows installed DiskImage (and you must install in on your
system) allows you to mount your image backups as another drive,
thereby you can recover *individual* files.

"O&O DiskImage Pro" is worth every dime ($30 for 1 copy, $50 for 3),
from a very satisfied user not affiliated with O&O.



CAUTION: You should NEVER create backups WITHOUT running a virus scan
FIRST! This also applies to manually creating Restore Points.



--
=========== Tecknomage ===========
Computer Systems Specialist
ComputerHelpForum.org Staff Member
IT Technician
San Diego, CA

 

[glee]

I know this has been asked before but I can not remember where. When I
try to restore to an earlier date and pick a point, it always goes
through the process but when it reboots it says it was unable to
restore
to that date and I pick another but the same thing happens. I have
system restore set to ON,disk space to use set at max,91.0 GB of free
space on a 149.0 GB drive. I can not remember when it quit working but
used to have no trouble. Any hints?

Here are some troubleshooting steps to take when System Restore fails to
restore:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/srfail.html

If you have a Norton (Symantec) product installed (Norton AntiVirus,
Norton Internet Security, Norton Personal Firewall, or Norton
SystemWorks), read here:
"Restoration Incomplete. Your computer cannot be restored . . . "
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/symantecdoc1.html

All About System Restore in WinXP
http://bertk.mvps.org/

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

First, Windows Restore is *almost* useless (IMHO).

I completely disagree. I've personally used it twice on my systems,
and both times it quickly and easily solved the problem I was
experiencing (sorry, too long ago for me to remember the details of
the problems). I've also used it several times of other people's
systems, and it always solved the problems there too.

It is intended to be used SOON after making a change in your system
and you find something is screwed.

Yes, I agree. Using old restore points is not wise, and can create
problems itself.

IMPORTANT: System Restore should NEVER be used if you suspect you
have a virus! It is NOT an anti-virus tool.

Again, I agree.

Having a good backup utility is the absolutely best way for restoring
your system. And by "good" I mean an *image backup* utility, NOT a
file backup.

Yes, but depending on what the problem is, restoring the whole system
isn't always necessary. And a system restore can be much quicker and
easier to do.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[Michael T.]

I completely disagree. I've personally used it twice on my systems,
and both times it quickly and easily solved the problem I was
experiencing (sorry, too long ago for me to remember the details of
the problems). I've also used it several times on other people's
systems, and it always solved the problems there too.

I'm in your corner, because that has been my experience with System Restore
as well.

It may not be perfect (what software is), but it has proved very useful a
number of times.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm in your corner, because that has been my experience with System Restore
as well.

It may not be perfect (what software is), but it has proved very useful a
number of times.

I completely agree with both of those clauses in your last sentence,
especially "not be perfect," which I should have said.




Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[JAS]

Do it from Safe Mode.

I have tried and it will not complete.

 

[JAS]

I completely agree with both of those clauses in your last sentence,
especially "not be perfect," which I should have said.




Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

I agree with all the comments and only try to use the most recent
restore points when installing a program causes a problem. My question I
guess is , what causes the restore points to be corupt or unable to be used?

 

[SC Tom]

I have tried and it will not complete.

Use Safe Mode with Command Prompt. When the window finishes loading, type in %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
and press Enter. The SR GUI will come up, and you can pick any date you want.

One other thing you may need to do is keep any firewall suite such as Zone Alarm from starting with Windows (I've had
trouble with it before, and doing that helped). The ZA setting is in the options; over suites or AV programs may have it
set up differently, like starting from the registry, Startup folder, or even a Windows service. Once the SR has finished
and the PC has rebooted into Windows, you can re-enable it.

 

[glee]

I agree with all the comments and only try to use the most recent
restore points when installing a program causes a problem. My question
I
guess is , what causes the restore points to be corupt or unable to be
used?

Read the information at the links I posted in my reply over 8 hours ago.

 

[JAS]

Malware.

Check the system.

I have ran a complete system scan with Kaspersky and Malwarebytes and
Kaspersky rootkit tool and all is clean.

 

[JAS]

Read the information at the links I posted in my reply over 8 hours ago.

I have

 

[glee]

I have

Well, they answer your question in detail, as to how restore points
become corrupt and unusable.