Remove restore points without turning off sys restore ?

[RobF]

Win XP Home help and support seems to offer a way to remove previous point,
but my restore wizard doesn't show the way, offer the option. I'd like to
keep the last 2 or 3 points, and remove the rest, which is clutter and
lengthens virus scan time.

 

[R. McCarty]

Lower the Restore Point allocation size. This will force out older
points. No exact per-point size, but on average a single point is
around ~300 Megabytes. System Restore is FIFO, First In, First
Out type of data storage.
*That 300 Megabyte per-point size is the best my memory can
pull up - if anyone has better info, please post.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Average XP System Restore Point over here is around *60* MB, not 300 MB.

 

[Gord Dibben]

Mine are all around 60MB

Give yourself permission to open System Volumme Information Folder to have a
look at individual RP sizes if you can't estimate from total folder size.


Gord

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Win XP Home help and support seems to offer a way to remove previous point,
but my restore wizard doesn't show the way, offer the option. I'd like to
keep the last 2 or 3 points, and remove the rest, which is clutter and
lengthens virus scan time.

You can't. Your only options are to remove all the restore points, all
the restore points but the last one, or none.


However, you can reduce the amount of space allocated for restore
points, which will limit the number of restore points that are kept.
Right-click on My Computer, choose Properties and change it on the
System Restore tab.

I think two or three isn't enough, and I recommend a week or two's
worth, but the number you get with XP's default allocation is too
large. If you go back too far, you tend to get the registry out of
synch with other files on the drive, so three months worth of restore
points aren't really useful.

 

[R. McCarty]

60 Megabytes sounds like a reasonable size. I can't actually review the
SVI folder on any of machines since I don't personally use or rely on
System Restore. Seems my original estimate of 300 Megabytes was
way off the mark.

 

[Gord Dibben]

I've got a pretty lean machine so another machine may be substantially
greater.


Gord

 

[Bill in Co.]

It depends even more on *how large a change* was made between restore
points. For example, if you install or uninstall a really LARGE app (say
like Office), it's gonna be larger. But 60 MB seems to be pretty typical
over here, as I said (certainly not 300 MB). (That does not, however,
mean it can NEVER get that large (see my preceding point above).

 

[RobF]

| Win XP Home help and support seems to offer a way to remove previous
point,
| but my restore wizard doesn't show the way, offer the option. I'd like to
| keep the last 2 or 3 points, and remove the rest, which is clutter and
| lengthens virus scan time.


Many thanks to all responders.

 

[RobF]

|
| > Win XP Home help and support seems to offer a way to remove previous
point,
| > but my restore wizard doesn't show the way, offer the option. I'd like
to
| > keep the last 2 or 3 points, and remove the rest, which is clutter and
| > lengthens virus scan time.
|
|
|
| You can't. Your only options are to remove all the restore points, all
| the restore points but the last one, or none.
|
|
| However, you can reduce the amount of space allocated for restore
| points, which will limit the number of restore points that are kept.
| Right-click on My Computer, choose Properties and change it on the
| System Restore tab.
|
| I think two or three isn't enough, and I recommend a week or two's
| worth, but the number you get with XP's default allocation is too
| large. If you go back too far, you tend to get the registry out of
| synch with other files on the drive, so three months worth of restore
| points aren't really useful.
|
| --
| Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
| Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Thanks, Ken. Default was 12% of C:\ drive, 2,999 MB. What I see in the Sys
Restore tab gives only % and size, not the number of weeks related to that.
I'll look again in WinExplorer - I have opted for see all - and judge the
amount of clutter now.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

|
| > Win XP Home help and support seems to offer a way to remove previous
point,
| > but my restore wizard doesn't show the way, offer the option. I'd like
to
| > keep the last 2 or 3 points, and remove the rest, which is clutter and
| > lengthens virus scan time.
|
|
|
| You can't. Your only options are to remove all the restore points, all
| the restore points but the last one, or none.
|
|
| However, you can reduce the amount of space allocated for restore
| points, which will limit the number of restore points that are kept.
| Right-click on My Computer, choose Properties and change it on the
| System Restore tab.
|
| I think two or three isn't enough, and I recommend a week or two's
| worth, but the number you get with XP's default allocation is too
| large. If you go back too far, you tend to get the registry out of
| synch with other files on the drive, so three months worth of restore
| points aren't really useful.
|
| --
| Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
| Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Thanks, Ken.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

Default was 12% of C:\ drive, 2,999 MB. What I see in the Sys
Restore tab gives only % and size, not the number of weeks related to that.

Yes, they can't tell you in days or weeks, since the size of restore
points varies. What you should do is see how many points your current
amount gives you, decide how many you want (I suggest about ten), then
do the arithmetic to see how big to make the percentage. You can then
check again after a couple of weeks to see if it's coming out right,
and adjust it if necessary.

I don't think great precision in how many you have is important.
Somewhere in that week or two range is all you should need.