Vista - I keep losing restore points!

For about a month now,I have been losing restore points every 2-3 days. I am set up for automatic Windows Updates and any restore points that appear over a 2-3 day period completely disappear after that period-(I can only hold restore points for 2-3 days in other words). I do have plenty of storage left on my hard drive-243 GB free,so I have plenty of room on my hard drive. I use to retain at least a whole month's worth of dozens of restore points,but now I can only retain 2-3 days worth. I wonder if it could have something to do with Norton Internet Security-I activated the 60 day trial about a month ago on my laptop computer and it seems like my system restore points have only been disappearing since I activated the trial. But,the same thing happened with my Windows Update History about 2 months ago-I had completely lost my update history,but that was before Norton Internet Security.

When I go to System Restore after the 2-3 day period,the system restore window says that no system restore points have been created on your disc-something to that effect. I do receive Windows Updates almost on a daily basis,so I know that I receive restore points almost everyday. I check system restore everyday and there is always restore points,but any restore points that I receive disappear usually after 2 days. Also,that box that you check to see system restore points older than 5 days is no longer on the system restore window. I'm open to any suggestions. Don't be afraid to get too technical with me.

Thank You in Advance

Hello TGL,

Do you dual boot with XP by chance?

System Restore Points - Stop XP Dual Boot Delete

You may also need to adjust the maximum disk space usage for System Restore to a higher size to allow for more restore points to be stored also.

System Restore - disk space

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for your reply Brink,

No,I don't dual boot with XP.

But,I checked out the tutorial on adjusting the maximum disc space for System Restore as you suggested. And,I pulled up the command prompt window that states the Used,Allocated,and Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space and here's what I got:

Used Shadow Storage space: 430.547 MB

Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 2.441 GB

Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 43.076 GB


I think that my Maximum Shadow Copy Storage is big enough. I did try to increase it to 150 GB by following the instructions,but the command prompt window said: (Error: Invalid Command) when I did that. As I stated earlier,I have 243 GB free on my C hard drive and I have used only about 43 GB which corresponds to the Maximum Shadow Storage Space stated above.

Could there be some type of registry error or could Norton Internet Security be the cause for me losing restore points?

Is there a way I can repair system restore so that it will work properly?

Thank You,
TGL

TGL <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote:
If you're using a third-party defragger, that may well be the problem.

Are you?

Thanks Mike,

No,I am not using a 3rd party defraggmenter.

Thanks Anyway,
TGL

TGL,

That would certainly be large enough to hold more than a few restore points.

Did you use Disk Cleanup by any chance and cleaned out the restore points that way un the "More Options" tab, or any other disk cleanup type program that has the option to clean restore points on a schedule?

Brink,

No,I haven't used Disc Cleanup or any other disc cleanup program that would clean restore points. (I do occasionally,once a month,use Ascentive PC SpeedScan Pro to check my computer for errors,but I have found that when I do the scan and/or fix the errors that it has found,it hasn't had any affect on system restore points). The Ascentive Software comes from finallyfast.com-I saw the commercial and went online to purchase it in October-I've only been having a problem with restore points for only a month now,so,if the Ascentive software caused me to lose restore points,it would have done it back in October and November.

O.K.,I'll just tell you everything,here goes:
The reason I felt the need to purchase the Ascentive software is because back in October(October 15th to be exact),my laptop's screen became black with a mouse cursor in the middle of it that would move after automatic installation of 5 Windows Updates. After that,I turned the computer off and then turned it on and I was presented with the screen that said Launch Startup Repair or Start Windows Normally and it said something to the effect that my computer has been damaged or something. To make a long story short(I'll try),I called Gateway tech support after launching startup repair and trying to start windows normally-they failed and my computer kept rebooting over and over again trying to repair itself to no avail,but anyway,Gateway tech rep. took me through most of the F8 options: system restore,last good configuration,etc. and none of those worked(my computer would not start up or take me to the logon screen) and what I was left with was full factory recovery or recovery with automatic data backup,and I chose recovery with automatic data backup even though Gateway told me to choose full factory recovery because I had never backed up any of my files prior to my computer failing,so I had no choice and nothing to lose. If I would have chose full factory recovery,I would have lost everything.

Since doing the recovery with automatic data backup,I have had many problems with my computer that have for the most part, been fixed. For 2 months after doing the recovery with backup my computer had blue screens,was freezing constantly,losing Windows Update History even though I had set it up for updates after the recovery with backup,and most importantly my computer was doing an automatic disc check about everytime I turned on my computer-The screen would say "Checking file system on C,One of your discs needs to be checked for consistency." Then it would proceed to recover orphaned and lost files,delete corrupted files,something with bad sectors and on and on. But,it doesn't do any of this anymore after doing a complete disc check on December 9th-it went through all 5 stages and that nicked these problems in the bud-no more freezing,blue screens,automatic disc checks etc-a Gateway tech had me do the full disc check-it took 2-3 hours to do that. But,the only problem I am having right now is with the system restore and occasionally internet explorer stops responding,but that's about it.

I do believe there's some lingering corrupted and lost files issues because I ran the full disc check a couple of weeks ago,and the screen during the disc check is still showing that it is recovering lost files and deleting corrupted files,etc. And I just ran a scan with the Ascentive software yesterday,and it says that I have 8 Class errors,4 Missing Shared files errors,and 15 Invalid File extension errors. I have not clicked the button to fix the errors yet,though. What all this could mean?-I don't know. Maybe,there are missing files or registry errors(Class errors) that could be causing me to lose restore points-I don't know. What do you think? I do have all my old preOctober 15th program and window files in my C backup folder from doing the recovery with automatic data backup,so I might could replace the system restore program or repair it with a corresponding file in that C backup folder. I was able to do that with the SensApi(system 32 file) that was causing problems-I was getting a popup error screen saying that there was an error with the SensApi file and I deleted that file and replaced it with the same exact system 32 file in my C backup folder,and it fixed it-no more pesky SensApi error screens! Could I do something like that with the system restore program that is not working correctly? Could I replace some of the System Restore files with the same corresponding files that I have in my C backup folder like I did with the SensApi file?

Thank You,
TGL

P.S. I know that this was a long post,I just wanted to lay everything out on the
table. Now you know everything! It's all here!

TGL <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote:
And all the problems you had since then probably would not have
happened.

Max,

Not so Max,if I had chosen full factory restore,I would have lost all of my important files. (There was a problem before I did the recovery with backup-my computer would not startup,I could not boot into login screen,what caused that?) Because I chose recovery with automatic data backup under the recovery manager in the F8 options,I kept all my important files. Anyone in my position would have done this. Besides a problem with system restore,I'm sitting pretty right now,I have retained all my important files and I can always choose to backup my files and still do the full factory restore,but I believe the reason I had problems for 2 months after the recovery with backup is because the copy of Windows on D recovery drive may have some missing or corrupt files on it,so the same thing may have happened if I had chosen full factory recovery-both options install a new copy of Windows which comes from D Recovery Partition. I was told by a Gateway representative that because of this,it might be better for me to install Windows using the operating system disc that came with the computer and the recovery discs that has all the drivers on it. Just wanted to include these important points-it may help someone who's ever in the situation of not being able to boot into the logon screen-you can choose restore with automatic data backup under recovery manager and not lose all your files-this is under the F8 options.

But Anyway,

Do you work for Gateway? I get the feeling that you do or you know someone who does? Look,I had very important files on my computer. I had NO CHOICE but to do the recovery with automatic data backup option,besides,in the Gateway Starter Guide,it does say that the recovery with automatic data backup is (recommended). I was told by a phone Gateway tech that the only reason they tell people over the phone to do the full factory recovery is because people have trouble opening their personal files afterwards-THAT'S THE ONLY REASON-that's exactly what a Gateway tech told me. They even said the words,"that's the only reason". But,I had no problems opening up any of my files in my C backup folder because the files I had on my computer were only associated with the programs that come preinstalled on my computer-NO PROBLEMS THERE.

Besides,who's to say that the recovery with automatic data backup is the cause for the problems that I have had anyway? The full factory recovery and recovery with automatic data backup both install a new copy of Windows and the copy of Windows comes from the same source: D recovery partition. Anyway,I was told by a few Gateway techs that my hard drive may be failing or there might be a problem with the motherboard or memory because the recovery with automatic data backup installs a new copy of Windows,and they even asked me if I had anything connected to my computer when I was doing the recovery with automatic data backup because that can cause problems afterwards,but I did not have anything connected. Anyway,they said I shouldn't be having trouble after doing the recovery with backup. But,before I send it in for repair or do a full factory recovery after backing everything up on to DVDs,I would just like to see if I could repair the system restore program-that's basically the only problem I'm having now,get it?

You know what? The recovery with backup option has done me some good,as I mentioned,I was able to replace the SensApi(System 32) file with the same exact file that I had in my C backup folder-that solved those pesky error screens that I had mentioned.



Any help is still appreciated

TGL(Tonya)

Anybody,

I'm still here open to suggestions about fixing system restore(I'm still losing restore points). I may have done something wrong with my computer that's caused this,but there's nothing I can do about it now. What has been done has been done,and,unfortunately,you can't choose a restore point in real life and go back to a previous point in time to undo something you did. If only that were true.

Thanks,
TGL(Tonya)