What the heck keeps eating my hard drive?

[Nemephosis]

Okay, it sounds like something I should keep on then... maybe I oughta just listen to the people who know what they are talking about, cause if I knew, I wouldn't be asking stupid questions like this.

Alright, someone said there's a way to control how much disk space system restore uses. How do I set that limit? Like, if I wanted System Restore to make a point weekly and then have it only keep five points, what would I need to do? The help files only explain what it is and what it does, not much about how to change settings.

 

[johngalt]

The same place where you turn it off and on is where you can set the percentage of a drive that it uses.

 

[Nemephosis]

Is it supposed to be on the System Protection tab? I've got nothing there that resembles that.

Vista is a lot bigger and easier to get lost in than 2000 ever was, I'll tell you that right now...

 

[johngalt]

Considering that the OSs are over 10 years apart in age....not very surprising....

I don't have Vista anymore, but take a look at this tutorial....

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76227-system-restore-disk-space.html

 

[NormCameron]

Is it supposed to be on the System Protection tab? I've got nothing there that resembles that.

Vista is a lot bigger and easier to get lost in than 2000 ever was, I'll tell you that right now...

Hi Nemephosis, The guys wouldn't badger you if they didn't think you would benefit. We only want the best for forum members

You can learn how to reset the space system restore uses at Brink's Tutorial here :- http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76227-system-restore-disk-space.html?ltr=S

Norm

 

[johngalt]

Lol - I guess I was a bit faster than ya Norm - but shouldn't you be in bed, cause yanno Santa is watching....

 

[NormCameron]

Lol - I guess I was a bit faster than ya Norm - but shouldn't you be in bed, cause yanno Santa is watching....

LOL It's 4.30 in the afternoon here, every bodies had Christmas Dinner, opened their pressis and gone to sleep, except me. Santa's already been down the chimney, dirtied the rug and drank my dram.

Norm

 

[johngalt]

IOW_ You're eyeing the leftovers again, eh?

 

[coolnewyorker]

As long as you have regular backups then you're fine as you say.

I iterate, back ups do not replace System restore.... and vice versa. One is not fine without System restore. Period!!! It does not matter how safe the backed up files are if system is unstable.

To newbies and not so newbies, System restore is their best friend.

NEME, I'm so glad you listened...finally.

Later, and only if you keep System restore, these techies and gurus will let you in on some secrets on how to make your Vista OS even better.

Have you visited the tutorial section?

 

[Airbot]

As long as you have regular backups then you're fine as you say.

I iterate, back ups do not replace System restore.... and vice versa. One is not fine without System restore. Period!!! It does not matter how safe the backed up files are if system is unstable.

To newbies and not so newbies, System restore is their best friend.

NEME, I'm so glad you listened...finally.

Later, and only if you keep System restore, these techies and gurus will let you in on some secrets on how to make your Vista OS even better.

Have you visited the tutorial section?

That's fine coolnewyorker. I do believe in keeping system restore on but I never said I "recommended" disabling it. I only said that because the original poster was adamant with keeping it disabled. And like I said, system restore is not Perfect either. But having regular backups is better than having nothing!

 

[Nemephosis]

As long as you have regular backups then you're fine as you say.

I iterate, back ups do not replace System restore.... and vice versa. One is not fine without System restore. Period!!! It does not matter how safe the backed up files are if system is unstable.

To newbies and not so newbies, System restore is their best friend.

NEME, I'm so glad you listened...finally.

Later, and only if you keep System restore, these techies and gurus will let you in on some secrets on how to make your Vista OS even better.

Have you visited the tutorial section?

I admit, I have not. This is a big forum to navigate. I'll be on the lookout though.

 

[johngalt]

If you think the regular forums are large, wait till you get to the tutorials

 

[Tepid]

I have to add my thoughts and experience on this subject.

System Restore is not an all powerful life saver. Yes, it can come in handy, but not always. I have seen more systems come across my bench that people have caused problems by trying to do a restore because they thought it might fix something.

I am not saying that System Restore in of itself is bad, it can be a life saver only in certain circumstances.

But too many people put too much emphasis on its use.

You are better off, in my opinion, disabling system restore, however you can leave it on, but never rely on it to save you every single time.

Best practice is to do nightly backups to an external hard drive with a reputable imaging software such as Acronis (pay ware) or DriveImage XML (free). Although you do need to learn how to use DriveImage XML (DIXML for short) to restore a partition.
Acronis is a much better solution for the not so tech savvy.
Although again, you need to learn how to use it. No backup/recovery Solution is magic.

Also do a complete backup before you make any major change such as driver updates.

This will save you more times than simply relying on System Restore, which again, I have seen cause more problems than it has solved.

On a side note: I have seen instances of System Restore deleting data (documents, pictures, etc.), that can only sometimes be retrieved with recovery software.

These are just my experiences. Results may vary.

 

[NormCameron]

I have to add my thoughts and experience on this subject.

System Restore is not an all powerful life saver. Yes, it can come in handy, but not always. I have seen more systems come across my bench that people have caused problems by trying to do a restore because they thought it might fix something.

I am not saying that System Restore in of itself is bad, it can be a life saver only in certain circumstances.

But too many people put too much emphasis on its use.

You are better off, in my opinion, disabling system restore, however you can leave it on, but never rely on it to save you every single time.

Best practice is to do nightly backups to an external hard drive with a reputable imaging software such as Acronis (pay ware) or DriveImage XML (free). Although you do need to learn how to use DriveImage XML (DIXML for short) to restore a partition.
Acronis is a much better solution for the not so tech savvy.
Although again, you need to learn how to use it. No backup/recovery Solution is magic.

Also do a complete backup before you make any major change such as driver updates.

This will save you more times than simply relying on System Restore, which again, I have seen cause more problems than it has solved.

On a side note: I have seen instances of System Restore deleting data (documents, pictures, etc.), that can only sometimes be retrieved with recovery software.

These are just my experiences. Results may vary.

I agree with what you say, but, there are many instances where system restore can get you out of trouble, the times when it may fail are very much in the minority. I've seen backups and full restores fail too, no reason not to do them because in 99% of cases they work. The rule of thumb should always be back-up, back-up, backup. Just don't forget there are times when a system restore is quicker and better than using a backup or full restore.

Norm

 

[Tepid]

Yes, backups do get corrupted. But this is far less a problem than System Restore.
Again, I have seen System Restore cause more problems than it has solved.
Not only is data recovery a problem when SR blows up the OS and you can't boot to the OS anymore. But, again, I have seen it remove data because that data was not part of a previous restore point.

And the real problem is, most people do not know when to use System Restore and when not to.

And so, you get too many people putting too much emphasis on its use.

 

[Tepid]

I guess I should add,,,,

While System Restore can get you out of a jam. It should not be relied upon for every little thing that goes wrong with the system. It doesn't fix everything. It is not a cure all magic bullet. Even for a bad driver install.

What I am trying to say is...

System Restore is a 50/50 shot at resolving a problem, nothing more nothing less, there is no guarantee that it will fix the problem or make it worse.

Real backup solutions are still the best.

Now,, something I did forget to mention is Shadow Copy, which can be a valuable resource. And therefore you would want to leave System Restore on.

But this is more for data recovery than OS corruption problem solving.

 

[NormCameron]

I guess I should add,,,,

While System Restore can get you out of a jam. It should not be relied upon for every little thing that goes wrong with the system. It doesn't fix everything. It is not a cure all magic bullet. Even for a bad driver install.

What I am trying to say is...

System Restore is a 50/50 shot at resolving a problem, nothing more nothing less, there is no guarantee that it will fix the problem or make it worse.

Real backup solutions are still the best.

Now,, something I did forget to mention is Shadow Copy, which can be a valuable resource. And therefore you would want to leave System Restore on.

But this is more for data recovery than OS corruption problem solving.

While System Restore can get you out of a jam. It should not be relied upon for every little thing that goes wrong with the system. It doesn't fix everything. It is not a cure all magic bullet. I agree.
System Restore is a 50/50 shot at resolving a problem, nothing more nothing less, there is no guarantee that it will fix the problem or make it worse. I agree with the qualification that 50 50 is a bit extrem. In the right curcamstance, such as a bad install, update or driver the success rate is much much higher.

Norm

 

[coolnewyorker]

Backups are not system restore. System restore is not backups. These two features are two distinct entities with separate different functions. They are meant to complement each other....not to replace one for the other. Both of them must be available and neither should be unavailable when troubles cannot be solved by corrective measures........hopefully to avoid resorting to "last resort" (clean install) or "last last resort"(a new PC) .

I have never seen either do harm. The only harm we think they do is if they do not solve the probs...meaning the probs are beyond their functions. Reinstalling backed up files on an unhealthy system, or recovering permanently deleted files/programs with system restore is as futile as trying to clean install with sick motherboard or HDD.

System restore and backups and recovery disc are all lifesavers when used properly. Otherwise, none of them is.


Please stop equating these items like one is better or worse than the other. They are all necessary. One should not go on computing without any of them.

 

[Tepid]

I do agree, that they are separate tools that have separate functions. Each of which can fail. But, full system backups are far less likely to fail when trying to recover from a problem than System Restore. Granted, if you don't have a backup of new data between backups, your going to lose it. But, with Acronis, you can backup a corrupt OS and fix the problem, then access that backup to extract your data. Believe me, there are far better solutions to rely on than System Restore. I read way too many posts, everywhere, of people acting like it's a magic bullet.

As for System Restore never doing harm, yes, it can, it has and it will. Again, my opinion is that System Restore is a 50/50 shot at resolving an OS problem. If it works great, awesome, saves the day, but when it doesn't, it can really hose the system badly and make recovering a lot more difficult. There are better solutions. People need to talk about those and quit relying on the magic bullet.

I will exit the conversation as I have made my views on this subject pretty clear, and with much experience.

 

[coolnewyorker]

And remember, when SR fails, undo it. No harm done. You are back where you were. Then look for other solution. Call Shawn!!