Restore event on external drive

[General Mailbox]

Greetings.
Now that I have a full system restoration program, I was wondering if the
external drive files would be affected. The reason I'm asking is my concern
of files no longer being identified as when I use System Restore feature to
an earlier point. Since System Restore is monitoring all hard drives, plus
external drive, would restoring to an earlier time also affect the external
drive's files? If so, I would think a full system restore would also not
identify files created after that point. I'm reluctant to keep my external
drive on to find out. Thank you.
Rgds,
Kevin

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Now that I have a full system restoration program, I was wondering
if the external drive files would be affected. The reason I'm
asking is my concern of files no longer being identified as when I
use System Restore feature to an earlier point. Since System
Restore is monitoring all hard drives, plus external drive, would
restoring to an earlier time also affect the external drive's
files? If so, I would think a full system restore would also not
identify files created after that point. I'm reluctant to keep my
external drive on to find out. Thank you.

What 'full system restoration program' do you have installed/configured that
you are referring to?

"System Restore" only manages 'system' files - it is not a backup solution,
nor would I suggest it be your only solution...

 

[Malke]

What 'full system restoration program' do you have installed/configured that
you are referring to?

"System Restore" only manages 'system' files - it is not a backup solution,
nor would I suggest it be your only solution...

And just to add to Shenan's good advice, there is no reason to ever have
XP's System Restore monitor any drive except for the system drive
(usually C:\, the one with the operating system on it). It's a waste of
system resources and hard drive space since there is nothing on your
external drive that System Restore concerns itself with.

See MVP Bert Kinney's pages about System Restore for more details:

http://bertk.mvps.org
Here is a list of files and folders System Restore monitors -
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/filesfolders.html


Malke

 

[Bert Kinney]

"System Restore" only manages 'system' files - it is not a backup
solution, nor would I suggest it be your only solution...

Thanks to both of you, Shenan and Malke.
Sorry I blended full system restoration with System Restore. It was bound
to be confusing.
Malke, you wrote on 8/21/07 to RBB "Roxio is not an image creator like
Acronis or Norton Ghost."
Taking that idea, I've downloaded Acronis and made a few full system
restoration files (one for each partition rather than one large file
containing all partitions on a drive).. I plan on monthly such full backups
with weekly differentials. If I am needing to back up to a point since the
last differential, I hope that System Restore will suffice. A downside of
System Restore is that all the files I have placed in a folder I created in
the root directory of C drive, vanish from being listed only for those
created after the restore date chosen. I understand that if I want to
protect files from Systen Restore, I would need to place them under My
Documents folder. This is the reason for my quesiton. It was a default
setting of System Restore to monitor all drives including the external one.
I can change it to monitor C drive only. I didn't notice about Systen
Restore monitoring everything until after the backups were done. In a test
of Acronis to recover the OS system, the question came to mind if I should
turn off the power of the external drive so that files don't vanish as they
do in the C drive. The external drive wouldn't be protected from changes as
it isn't under My Documents folder. Like you suggest, from now on, I'll
only have the C drive monitored. With this vanishing files thing happening,
I was wondering if using System Restore and/or Acronis would also have
missing file listings happen on the external drive. I had to test Acronis
in Safe version using the backup file on a separate partition of my local
drive because Acronis did not recognize my external drive using the Full
version as it was suppose to. I've written to Acronis about this yesterday
and no answer just yet. It is my wish to use the external drive for storage
of backup files.
But, can you imagine this: There's a program needed to read certain
filetypes. You can't find it anywhere to install again. Knowing that you
have a full system restore file newly created, you go to a full system
restore point from last months backup file. After using the program and
decide again not to keep it anymore, you want to restore back to today's
newly created one. But will it be listed on the external drive as a choice
since the computer's restore points, registery, or whatever doesn't show
files that was created of a later date?
This is more of a discussion than a current problem. I'd like to know what
to expect before proceeding with just about everything. "An ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Rgds,
Kevin

Hi Kevin,

You're over complicating things here. Let me help explain.

System Restore is designed to restore a core set of system files and folders
in the event one or more of these file becomes corrupt, or incompatible with
the system do to a newly installed application or device driver.

System Restore is not a replacement for backing up files!

Here is a description of System Restore:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/description.html

System Restore will provide best results when used ASAP after a problem is
detected. Restoring a system back more than a week or so can often cause
more problems than it solves. For example, any application installed after
the restore point you are reverting to may not function. What happens is,
System Restore only removes monitored files for the installed applications
and the rest are left behind. This can cause the application not to
function. And in some cases, can also cause the uninstall and reinstall
process of the partially removed application to fail. It is recommended to
uninstall any applications that was installed after the restore point you
will be restoring to.

And as Malke suggested, set System Restore to *only* monitor the
drive/partition Windows is installed on.

Should I let System Restore monitor my external drive?
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html#11

So for short term problems System Restore is the best choice. All data and
image files will be left intact.

Erunt is an excellent tool for backing up the system registry ONLY. This can
be useful when a system will not boot to normal or safe mode and when System
Restore cannot be accessed.

ERUNT: The Emergency Recovery Utility NT - Registry Backup and Restore for
Windows NT/2000/2003/XP
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt

Imaging software such as Acronis creates an exact copy of partition being
imaged. This is a longer term solution used when System Restore and other
troubleshooting steps fail. The down side in restoring an image is all
changes made after the image was created will be gone. This is where a
backup strategy comes into play.

Backing up your computer or your data:
http://computerhaven.info/Backups.aspx


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

 

[General Mailbox]

What 'full system restoration program' do you have installed/configured
that you are referring to?

"System Restore" only manages 'system' files - it is not a backup
solution, nor would I suggest it be your only solution...

Thanks to both of you, Shenan and Malke.
Sorry I blended full system restoration with System Restore. It was bound
to be confusing.
Malke, you wrote on 8/21/07 to RBB "Roxio is not an image creator like
Acronis or Norton Ghost."
Taking that idea, I've downloaded Acronis and made a few full system
restoration files (one for each partition rather than one large file
containing all partitions on a drive).. I plan on monthly such full backups
with weekly differentials. If I am needing to back up to a point since the
last differential, I hope that System Restore will suffice. A downside of
System Restore is that all the files I have placed in a folder I created in
the root directory of C drive, vanish from being listed only for those
created after the restore date chosen. I understand that if I want to
protect files from Systen Restore, I would need to place them under My
Documents folder. This is the reason for my quesiton. It was a default
setting of System Restore to monitor all drives including the external one.
I can change it to monitor C drive only. I didn't notice about Systen
Restore monitoring everything until after the backups were done. In a test
of Acronis to recover the OS system, the question came to mind if I should
turn off the power of the external drive so that files don't vanish as they
do in the C drive. The external drive wouldn't be protected from changes as
it isn't under My Documents folder. Like you suggest, from now on, I'll
only have the C drive monitored. With this vanishing files thing happening,
I was wondering if using System Restore and/or Acronis would also have
missing file listings happen on the external drive. I had to test Acronis
in Safe version using the backup file on a separate partition of my local
drive because Acronis did not recognize my external drive using the Full
version as it was suppose to. I've written to Acronis about this yesterday
and no answer just yet. It is my wish to use the external drive for storage
of backup files.
But, can you imagine this: There's a program needed to read certain
filetypes. You can't find it anywhere to install again. Knowing that you
have a full system restore file newly created, you go to a full system
restore point from last months backup file. After using the program and
decide again not to keep it anymore, you want to restore back to today's
newly created one. But will it be listed on the external drive as a choice
since the computer's restore points, registery, or whatever doesn't show
files that was created of a later date?
This is more of a discussion than a current problem. I'd like to know what
to expect before proceeding with just about everything. "An ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Rgds,
Kevin

 

[Bert Kinney]

General Mailbox wrote:
Thank you, Bert, for your informative writing and references. I came across
this idea because I have seen downloaded .exe files disappear when restoring
to a point prior to that download. Knowing it's really still on the drive,
unless something overwrites it, I can undo my restore to get it back to
transfer it somewhere else. I recall reading My Documents is a safe haven
from System Restore. I didn't see .exe extension being monitored by System
Restore in the listing, yet I recall it disappearing. I'll have to
experiment on that one again to make sure I understand the effects.
Thanks for your time too.
B.rgds,
Kevin

You're welcome Kevin.

You are correct, the contents of the My Documents folder are not monitored
by System Restore. I would recommend saving downloaded files and application
to one of the non-monitored drives rather than the My Documents folder.

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

 

[General Mailbox]

Hi Kevin,

You're over complicating things here. Let me help explain.

System Restore is designed to restore a core set of system files and
folders in the event one or more of these file becomes corrupt, or
incompatible with the system do to a newly installed application or device
driver.

System Restore is not a replacement for backing up files!

Here is a description of System Restore:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/description.html

System Restore will provide best results when used ASAP after a problem is
detected. Restoring a system back more than a week or so can often cause
more problems than it solves. For example, any application installed after
the restore point you are reverting to may not function. What happens is,
System Restore only removes monitored files for the installed applications
and the rest are left behind. This can cause the application not to
function. And in some cases, can also cause the uninstall and reinstall
process of the partially removed application to fail. It is recommended to
uninstall any applications that was installed after the restore point you
will be restoring to.

And as Malke suggested, set System Restore to *only* monitor the
drive/partition Windows is installed on.

Should I let System Restore monitor my external drive?
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html#11

So for short term problems System Restore is the best choice. All data and
image files will be left intact.

Erunt is an excellent tool for backing up the system registry ONLY. This
can be useful when a system will not boot to normal or safe mode and when
System Restore cannot be accessed.

ERUNT: The Emergency Recovery Utility NT - Registry Backup and Restore for
Windows NT/2000/2003/XP
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt

Imaging software such as Acronis creates an exact copy of partition being
imaged. This is a longer term solution used when System Restore and other
troubleshooting steps fail. The down side in restoring an image is all
changes made after the image was created will be gone. This is where a
backup strategy comes into play.

Backing up your computer or your data:
http://computerhaven.info/Backups.aspx


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

Thank you, Bert, for your informative writing and references. I came across
this idea because I have seen downloaded .exe files disappear when restoring
to a point prior to that download. Knowing it's really still on the drive,
unless something overwrites it, I can undo my restore to get it back to
transfer it somewhere else. I recall reading My Documents is a safe haven
from System Restore. I didn't see .exe extension being monitored by System
Restore in the listing, yet I recall it disappearing. I'll have to
experiment on that one again to make sure I understand the effects.
Thanks for your time too.
B.rgds,
Kevin