Restore Points - Retain > 2 months & Increase # of Points

[Guest]

Is there a way to increase the time a restore point is available in the
native WINXP os, and, is there a way to keep adding points indefinitely
provided existing hardware will support it?

Currently my XPME2005 install will only retain 2 months worth of restore
points. If a possible answer is backup restore point files to secondary
media & restore, is this supported and has it been performed successfully?

Reason for question: Just reinstalled system, and would like to keep 1st
reinstall point as a quick way to image restore the system.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Is there a way to increase the time a restore point is available in
the native WINXP os,

You can increase the amount of space available for Restore Points up to a
maximum of 12% of your hard drive (but see below).

and, is there a way to keep adding points
indefinitely provided existing hardware will support it?

No.


Currently my XPME2005 install will only retain 2 months worth of
restore points.

In that case, if I were you, I would *decrease* the amount of space you
allocate for restore points, not try to increase it. Restore points that old
are seldom of any use. Don't think of System Restore as a means of backing
up your computer. That's not what it's designed for and that's not what it
is. It backs up the operating system only. It does nothing, for example, to
back up your data files, normally the most important thing you need to
safeguard.

The problem with trying to use a Restore Point from two months ago is that
it is normally badly out of synch with other files on your drive, and it's
likely to cause more problems than it solves. Think of a Restore Point as a
way to undo a system change you just made that doesn't work the way you
expected it to and you can't figure out how to otherwise undo it. That's its
purpose and it works well for that.

I recommend adjusting the amount of disk space you give System Restore to no
more than you need for a week or two worth of restore points--whatever
percentage gives you 2GB or so.

Read here for more good info about System Restore:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/description.html

 

[All Things Mopar]

Today, with great enthusiasm and quite emphatically, Ken Blake,
MVP laid this on an unsuspecting readership ...

You can increase the amount of space available for Restore
Points up to a maximum of 12% of your hard drive (but see
below).




In that case, if I were you, I would *decrease* the amount of
space you allocate for restore points, not try to increase it.
Restore points that old are seldom of any use. Don't think of
System Restore as a means of backing up your computer. That's
not what it's designed for and that's not what it is. It backs
up the operating system only. It does nothing, for example, to
back up your data files, normally the most important thing you
need to safeguard.

The problem with trying to use a Restore Point from two months
ago is that it is normally badly out of synch with other files
on your drive, and it's likely to cause more problems than it
solves. Think of a Restore Point as a way to undo a system
change you just made that doesn't work the way you expected it
to and you can't figure out how to otherwise undo it. That's
its purpose and it works well for that.

I recommend adjusting the amount of disk space you give System
Restore to no more than you need for a week or two worth of
restore points--whatever percentage gives you 2GB or so.

Read here for more good info about System Restore:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/description.html

you blew right back the larger issue of the UN-desirability of
trying to restore back two months to a fresh install.

 

[Will Denny]

Ken, it is possible to increase the amount of disk space available to System
Restore above 12% via the Registry, not advisable, but possible.

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your reply.

If the original OS Image is created soley with the WinXP Media shipped with
the PC and there are no changes in the original hardware, wouldn't the first
Restore point then achive the same effect as installing from media?

Assume in this senario:

A separate backup for data files
Any application after the 1st restore point needs to be reinstalled
All windows update files after 1st restore point needs to be reinstalled

I'm trying to design a way to shorten the time of a bare metal restore
provided the system will boot and system restore is accessible. Restoration
of the 1st point in time restore has to be quicker than a complete reinstall
or a repair of the OS via the installer.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken, it is possible to increase the amount of disk space available to
System Restore above 12% via the Registry, not advisable, but
possible.

Thanks, Will. Although I have no interest in doing it, and agree that it's
not advisable, I'd appreciate seeing info on how to do it, or a link that
explains how, out of curiousity.

I looked for something like this about a week or two ago, and I din't find
it.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thank you for your reply.

If the original OS Image is created soley with the WinXP Media
shipped with the PC and there are no changes in the original
hardware, wouldn't the first Restore point then achive the same
effect as installing from media?

No. Even thought there may have been no hardware changes, there will have
been software installations and other software configuration changes. Those
are the things that will be badly out of synch.

 

[Will Denny]

Ken

Have a look at these two Registry values - they are very interesting:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore (RPSessionInterval)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore (RPGlobalInterval)

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[Guest]

I appreciate your help, thanks again!!!

No. Even thought there may have been no hardware changes, there will have
been software installations and other software configuration changes. Those
are the things that will be badly out of synch.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I appreciate your help, thanks again!!!

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken

Have a look at these two Registry values - they are very interesting:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore (RPSessionInterval)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore (RPGlobalInterval)

Thanks, Will, but I'm lost here The first one is 0x00000000 (0) and the
second is 00015180 (86400) The number of seconds in a day is 86400, so my
guess is that tells the system how often to make a restore point.

What am I missing? What does this have to do with increasing the System
Restore space to more than 12%?

Now HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore (DiskPercent) has a value of 0x0000000c
(12), so that might be what you meant, but it still isn't clear to me that
you can set it higher than 12%, or what happents if you do.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Ken,

I agree 100% this should not be done.

Double click on the following Value and change Value data (Decimal) to
15.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore]
"DiskPercent"=dword:0000000c (12)

The result is "DiskPercent"=dword:0000000f(15)

Open System Restore and move the disk space slider to the right, 15%...

This will increase the maximum amount of disk space SR can use to hold
restore points, but not the amount of days they are held.

"RPLifeInterval"=dword:0076a700 can be changed to increase the amout of
days restore points are held.

There's a utility (XPSystemRestoreLife.vbs) on the following page to
increase this.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/srscripts.html

Once again, this is not advisable. System Restore is not a backup tool.
For long term backups, imaging software should be used. Which I know you
know Ken... <g>

The Registry Keys and Values for the System Restore Utility
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q295659

Here are some tip on adjusting disk space usage, and keeping System
Restore healthy:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/healthy.html

 

[Will Denny]

Ken - change the DiskPercent value (in Decimal) to whatever may be needed.
Although more than 12 will use up a lot more disk space than may be needed.

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi Ken,

I agree 100% this should not be done.

Thanks very much, Bert. The details you provided make it clearer.

Once again, this is not advisable. System Restore is not a backup
tool. For long term backups, imaging software should be used. Which I
know you know Ken... <g>

Yup, but it never hurts to state it again, for others here who may
misunderstand what System Restore is for.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

The key word here is "image". System Restore was not designed to be a
backup or imaging tool.

Acronis True Image is one tool available to do what you are asking.
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage

 

[Bert Kinney]

Thanks very much, Bert. The details you provided make it clearer.

You're welcome Ken.

Yup, but it never hurts to state it again, for others here who may
misunderstand what System Restore is for.

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

 

[Will Denny]

Bert, I use TrueImage - a great program and has saved my bacon on numerous
times )

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[Bert Kinney]

Yes I have it also, but have not had a chance to use it. I just
purchased a new Toshiba notebook and once I get the OS and FF browser up
to date, ill create and image. If I need help, now I know who to ask.
<g>

 

[Will Denny]

Bert, I've been using Acronis programs for some time - never had a problem
with any of them. They all work very well on my Tosh. laptops.

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[Bert Kinney]

Thank Will.