restore points

Ok I know how to turn system restore on/off, but any time I'd looked or needed my system restores, there are only like 2, maybe 3. My ? is is there a way to like protect specific restore points. I know that when a restore point is created oldest one is overwritten, and how can I increase the number of restore points available. Thanks guys.:cool

 

Greetings, lego126.

Windows 7 = Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > System Protection > Configure

Windows XP = Control Panel > System > System Restore

In both cases, increase the amount of disk space available.

 

The oldest ones are only deleted when the allocated space (as described above) is full. To ensure you have more than 2 or 3 restore points, increase the allocated size to about 5% or 8% of the size of the hard drive, as per Caliban's instructions.

dave

 

If I may ask in addition to OP's thread...

Are restore points automatically created by Windows 7, or is it up to the user to create them periodically?

Thanks

 

Windows will automatically create a SR point in Windows 7 if one hasn't been created in the last 7 days:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa378910(v=vs.85).aspx

It creates one before installing MS Updates and most software programs.
Revo uninstaller will, if selected to do so, set a SR Point before attempting to uninstall any software, which is why it is better to use it that the software's own uninstaller, because you may forget to set a SR point.

Remember when trying to perform a system restore to an earlier date that, if you have Norton installed, it can cause thr restore to fail. Always disable Norton prior to trying a restore.

 

Sorry should have told you Vista Ultimate 64.

What is a good AVERAGE??? I know it could depend on the size of your HD, but I would think at least 10-15% I've only got a 300G HD, so what ya'll think..... I would just like to have a restore point at least a week old.

 

I'm running Win7 but I still have the same problem of disappearing restore points. I know I don't delete them but I rarely have more than one or two available at a time. I just checked mine. I only have System Restore configured for my C: drive. I reserve 4% or 2.2GB for system reserve. I have two restore points taking up 360mb. So technically if it was a space problem then I should always have about 10 restore points before one has to be overwritten. I never have ten points--it is always just two or three unless I create 4 or 5 points during one day. Then I will have 5-7 points for a week or so and then suddenly 1 or none? I had the same problem on XP.

As far as how much space to reserve in System protection if you click on the drive you want to configure and use the configure button it should tell you how much space you have reserved and how much is currently used. Compare that to the number of points available in System Restore (be sure to check the box for Show More Restore Points) and with a little math you can figure out how big each restore point is. 5 points taking up one 1gb total would mean each restore point is about 200mb.

I have never figured out what causes the purging of my restore points. If anyone knows some secret cause I am all ears.

 

Just had a look at Ccleaner for the list of restore points and there are 31 from 23rd Sept to yesterday.
Using Win 7 with a 300 GB HD and my points are set to use 8% or 20GB for SR and the 31 are taking up just 13.68GB at the moment.

dave

 

I can see no rhyme nor reason with the Windows Restore scheme. I have read that some causes of the 'disappearing Restore Points' syndrome are:

1. Dual boot systems (especially with Windows XP as a secondary system)

2. Volume Shadow Service problems

3. Some older versions of disk imaging programs (Acronis is mentioned several times)

However, I've seen the RP disappearing act occur when none of those conditions exist - go figure...

One caveat - when you note the phrase "You can adjust the maximum disk space used for system protection", realize that you are specifying exactly that: disk space, not necessarily how many RPs to keep. Since Restore Points vary in size depending on many factors, there's no way to really know how many will fit in the allocated space. In fact, since they vary in size over time, what fit in the given space one day might not fit the next.

 

I figured out how to resize mine via the CMD.. vssadmin etc.....
My current settings are 15G available for system restore, but I only have 3 restore points, and I am dual booting, xp sp2 32bit, ubuntu. Maybe if I turn the dual boot option off,.....?

21 restore points??? holy crap. I've NEVER had more than.... 3