Deleted System Restore Points

[ralphs]

When I wipe my disk with sdelete
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897443.aspx

XP SP3 deletes all but one restore point, apparently when the disk starts to
fill up.

How can I configure to keep the restore points?

 

[db.·.. >]

well, if the disk is
filling up then you
won't be able to force
the system to keep
restore points.

do a chkdsk and
see the stats.

 

[ralphs]

well, if the disk is
filling up then you
won't be able to force
the system to keep
restore points.

do a chkdsk and
see the stats.

It is supposed to fill up. The program overwrites all free areas on the
disk. Upon seeing this Windows deletes all but the last restore point.

 

[db.·.. >]

yes, it is supposed
to get filled up.

but if it gets too
full, then you simply
run out of room.

you should be able
to tell us how big
is your disk and
how much free space
you have at this
time.

 

[Lem]

When I wipe my disk with sdelete
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897443.aspx

XP SP3 deletes all but one restore point, apparently when the disk starts to
fill up.

How can I configure to keep the restore points?

I don't think you can, and further, if the designer of sdelete thought
about this (and he probably did) he probably would have thought it was a
desirable outcome. The point of sdelete is to securely remove traces of
data from the disk. Some of that data may be preserved in the restore
points, so if you really wanted to be secure about deleting things, you
probably would first disable system restore (thus deleting all of the
restore points) and then use sdelete.

In any case, it's actually surprising that you even keep one restore
point. Are you sure that this isn't a restore point that's newly-made
after sdelete completes?

This is how System Restore is supposed to work:
<quote>
System Restore requires a minimum of 200 MB of free disk space on the
system drive at installation. When the amount of free disk space falls
below 50 MB on ANY monitored drive, System Restore switches to standby
mode and stops creating restore points. All restore points are deleted
at that time. System Restore reactivates and resumes creating restore
points as soon as 200 MB of disk space is free on the system drive.
</quote)

If you want to know more, I suggest you post in
microsoft.public.security or one of the related newsgroups.
--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[ralphs]

" db.·.. ><))) ·>` .. ."

yes, it is supposed
to get filled up.

but if it gets too
full, then you simply
run out of room.

you should be able
to tell us how big
is your disk and
how much free space
you have at this
time.

Again, the program is supposed to overwrite all free space on the drive.
That is its function. The restore points are not free space. Windows is
deleting all but the latest restore points.

I asked how to arrange that Windows not delete those restore points. Your
replies have not said how to arrange do that.

Do you know how to achieve this?

If not, then why are you replying to my question?

 

[ralphs]

I don't think you can, and further, if the designer of sdelete thought
about this (and he probably did) he probably would have thought it was a
desirable outcome. The point of sdelete is to securely remove traces of
data from the disk. Some of that data may be preserved in the restore
points, so if you really wanted to be secure about deleting things, you
probably would first disable system restore (thus deleting all of the
restore points) and then use sdelete.

In any case, it's actually surprising that you even keep one restore
point. Are you sure that this isn't a restore point that's newly-made
after sdelete completes?

This is how System Restore is supposed to work:
<quote>
System Restore requires a minimum of 200 MB of free disk space on the
system drive at installation. When the amount of free disk space falls
below 50 MB on ANY monitored drive, System Restore switches to standby
mode and stops creating restore points. All restore points are deleted at
that time. System Restore reactivates and resumes creating restore points
as soon as 200 MB of disk space is free on the system drive.
</quote)

If you want to know more, I suggest you post in microsoft.public.security
or one of the related newsgroups.
--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

I will look at that newsgroup. Thank you.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Because he's an idiot troll, that's why.

Your own original post is very difficult to understand, however. What does
SDelete have to do with System Restore Point management? Is the issue that
AFTER using SDelete on a drive, System Restore behaves in some manner that
is different from before its use? Or is it just that SP3 handles things
differently when the allotted disk space is filled and rather than deleting
a Restore Point on the specified FIFO basis, it deletes all but the most
recent Restore Point? Or are you asserting that using SDelete caused the
change in behavior?

Or am I completely misunderstanding? If so, please restate the issue in a
more detailed manner.

 

[Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307875

 

[Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP]

Posted to wrong thread.. Sorry!

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
The Winhelponline Blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307875

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
The Winhelponline Blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog

When I wipe my disk with sdelete
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897443.aspx

XP SP3 deletes all but one restore point, apparently when the disk starts
to fill up.

How can I configure to keep the restore points?

 

[db.·.. >]

well, until you can
tell us how much
free space you have,
then you won't know
either.

 

[db.·.. >]

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/en-us/management/sysrestore_faq.mspx

 

[ralphs]

" db.·.. ><))) ·>` .. ."

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/en-us/management/sysrestore_faq.mspx

Thanks. I see from the info at the SDK link that the documented entries do
not provide a method by which I can achieve what I want. I'll have to accept
how it works for the time being. Hopefully I will be able to dig into it and
figure out a way.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

I'd still appreciate an answer, for my own edification. Are you saying that
when your system restore quota is reached, XP SP3 deletes ALL but the most
recent restore points?