system restore checkpoints?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gary
  • Start date Start date
Select Start/Control Panel/System, then in the System Properties window
click on the System Restore tab.
Select the drive letter (usually C:), click on the Setting button then in
the Drive Settings window you can move the Disk space usage slider to the
right to reduce the amount of space System Restore points will use. This
will remove the older restore points.

JS
 
Gary said:
How do you get rid of the old ones to save space?
Click to expand...

Disk Cleanup is a good place to start..

Start button --> RUN
Type in..

%SystemRoot%\System32\cleanmgr.exe

Click OK.
Select the C:\ drive if it asks.
When it finishes "scanning", you can select the "More Options" tab and click
on the "Cleanup" button under the "System Restore" section.

Another - sometimes better - option is to turn off system restore, turn it
back on and create a manual restoration point. This deletes all old restore
points - leaving you with the one you just made yourself.

- Turn off System Restore.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310405
- Reboot the Computer.
- Review the first bullet to turn on System Restore
- Make a Manual Restoration Point.
http://snipurl.com/68nx

Be sure you make your own backups of your files.. ystem Restore will *not*
help you if you erase something of yours.

How To Use Backup to Back Up Files and Folders on Your Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308422

Yes - you still need some sort of external media to store the results
on, but you could schedule the backup to occur when you are not around,
then burn the resultant data onto CD or DVD or something when you are
(while you do other things!)

Another option that works very well (and is free):

Cobian Backup
http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm
 
Oops, move the slider to the left to reduce the percentage of drive space
available for Restore Points!

JS
 
Hi

Run Disk Cleanup - then select More Options>System Restore. You can remove
all but the last checkpoint that way.

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups
 
looks like all or start over...Saw that you and look under System Vol
information.. Mine is empty

Gary
 
I get no options?


Will Denny said:
Hi

Run Disk Cleanup - then select More Options>System Restore. You can
remove all but the last checkpoint that way.

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups
Click to expand...
 
Gary said:
How do you get rid of the old ones to save space?
Click to expand...


There is no ability to selectively delete Restore Points. You can either
delete all, all but the latest one, or none.

However, you can save space by reducing the amount of space System Restore
uses. By default, it takes 12% of your drive, and that's not onlt wasteful
of disk space, it also results in saving Restore Points so old as to not be
useful.

From a practical point of view, you can hardly ever go back more than a
couple of weeks at most. That's because older Restore Points are very likely
to be out of synch with other things you've changed on the drive. So what
you should do is decrease the amount of space Windows uses for restore
points from its default of 12% of the drive. Hold down the Windows key and
press Pause | Break; change it on the System Restore tab. I would lower it
to whatever percentage gives you about 1-2GB or so at the most.
 
Did 3 restore points and hardly saw any difference in my drive free space.
Must not take much disk space

Gary
 
Gary said:
How do you get rid of the old ones to save space?
Click to expand...

Shenan said:
Disk Cleanup is a good place to start..

Start button --> RUN
Type in..

%SystemRoot%\System32\cleanmgr.exe

Click OK.
Select the C:\ drive if it asks.
When it finishes "scanning", you can select the "More Options" tab
and click on the "Cleanup" button under the "System Restore"
section.
Another - sometimes better - option is to turn off system restore,
turn it back on and create a manual restoration point. This
deletes all old restore points - leaving you with the one you just
made yourself.
- Turn off System Restore.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310405
- Reboot the Computer.
- Review the first bullet to turn on System Restore
- Make a Manual Restoration Point.
http://snipurl.com/68nx

Be sure you make your own backups of your files.. ystem Restore
will *not* help you if you erase something of yours.

How To Use Backup to Back Up Files and Folders on Your Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308422

Yes - you still need some sort of external media to store the
results on, but you could schedule the backup to occur when you are not
around, then burn the resultant data onto CD or DVD or something
when you are (while you do other things!)

Another option that works very well (and is free):

Cobian Backup
http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm
Click to expand...

Also - since you mentioned "saving space"..

Find out what might be using the space..

Do you have hidden and system files visible?
How's your system restore settings?
Used Disk Cleanup?
Is hibernate turned on and do you use that feature?
Uninstalled unnecessary applications lately?

Other ways to free up space..

SequoiaView
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

DX Hog Hunt
http://www.dvxp.com/en/Downloads.aspx

JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html

Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used.

If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete the
uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed..

http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm

You can use an application that scans your system for log files and
temporary files and use that to get rid of those:

Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/

You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but yuor
latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..

How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..

When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the system's
memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of the hiberfil.sys
file will always equal the amount of physical memory in your system. If you
don't use the hibernate feature and want to recapture the space that Windows
uses for the hiberfil.sys file, perform the following steps:

- Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start, Settings,
Control Panel, and click Power Options).
- Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check box, then
click OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting Never under the
"System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab doesn't delete the
hiberfil.sys file.
- Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power Schemes
tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.

You can control how much space your System Restore can use...

1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the System Restore tab.
3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and click on
the "Settings" button.
4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I suggest 5% or
higher.
5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.
 
Back
Top