Vista Tutorial - Volume Shadow Copy Or Wasted Hard Drive Space

Okay, when I first heard about Vista one of the things that I thought was
really cool was that it would allow for a local version of Previous Versions
(Volume Shadow Copy, or TimeWarp) that would allow a file that was accidently
changed, deleted, or otherwise lost to be "returned" to a previous state. I
was quite happy as I had seen it in action at the server level with Windows
Server 2003, and I knew that my kids and wife (and myself believe it or not)
could really use something like this on occasion. Like when my daughter had
worked for 3 days on a book report just to save over it on accident with a
letter to her grandma. So hurray, yet another way for Microsoft for coming up
with a way to further stupid proof its software for the masses (and yes this
still includes me).

Well over a year later I finally got a laptop with Vista Home Premium (as
the retailer did not sell laptops with Ultimate without paying for an upgrade
that was more expensive then the Anytime upgrade option) and was happy. Well
a couple months after that (last Tuesday) I screwed up a spreadsheet as I am
apt to do and was freaking out until I remembered about the Volume Shadow
Copy feature. So I start looking online as how to access this feature and
find out that it is only available in Business Editions and up. Well no big
deal I backed up the spreadsheet to disc the month previous so all my work
was not lost.

But then I found out that actually the Home versions of Vista do have Volume
Shadow Copy, and they even make the same "snapshots" as the Business and Up
versions do. But you just can't access these snapshots via "previous
versions".

So now I am thinking... And I wonder why should I be dedication up to 15%
percent of my hard drive to this if I can't access it. So the first thing I
do is try and find out exactly how much room this is taking up on my system
and find out that running VSSADMIN in an elevated command prompt can show me
and I find that about 12% of my hard drive is being used by Volume Shadow
Copy. So can I turn it off and get this back. Well yes, but then I throw out
System Restore in the process. So that is out because I like to try things
and explore the net, and System restore is my best friend in that regard. I
also could go ahead and use VSSADMIN to resize the size of the volume shadow
copy, but that reduces the number of system restores, and still leaves me
with old copies of files that I cannot access.

So is there any way I can either a access these files without upgrading, or
if that is not possible to not have it shadow copy my files in the first
place?
--
piook is a long standing psuedo-name that resulted from a typo on the old
computer game "Where in the USA IS Carmen Sandiego", and it stuck.


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Hi,

Are you referring to Previous Versions?
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/shadow.html


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

piook wrote:
> Okay, when I first heard about Vista one of the things that I thought was
> really cool was that it would allow for a local version of Previous Versions
> (Volume Shadow Copy, or TimeWarp) that would allow a file that was accidently
> changed, deleted, or otherwise lost to be "returned" to a previous state. I
> was quite happy as I had seen it in action at the server level with Windows
> Server 2003, and I knew that my kids and wife (and myself believe it or not)
> could really use something like this on occasion. Like when my daughter had
> worked for 3 days on a book report just to save over it on accident with a
> letter to her grandma. So hurray, yet another way for Microsoft for coming up
> with a way to further stupid proof its software for the masses (and yes this
> still includes me).
>
> Well over a year later I finally got a laptop with Vista Home Premium (as
> the retailer did not sell laptops with Ultimate without paying for an upgrade
> that was more expensive then the Anytime upgrade option) and was happy. Well
> a couple months after that (last Tuesday) I screwed up a spreadsheet as I am
> apt to do and was freaking out until I remembered about the Volume Shadow
> Copy feature. So I start looking online as how to access this feature and
> find out that it is only available in Business Editions and up. Well no big
> deal I backed up the spreadsheet to disc the month previous so all my work
> was not lost.
>
> But then I found out that actually the Home versions of Vista do have Volume
> Shadow Copy, and they even make the same "snapshots" as the Business and Up
> versions do. But you just can't access these snapshots via "previous
> versions".
>
> So now I am thinking... And I wonder why should I be dedication up to 15%
> percent of my hard drive to this if I can't access it. So the first thing I
> do is try and find out exactly how much room this is taking up on my system
> and find out that running VSSADMIN in an elevated command prompt can show me
> and I find that about 12% of my hard drive is being used by Volume Shadow
> Copy. So can I turn it off and get this back. Well yes, but then I throw out
> System Restore in the process. So that is out because I like to try things
> and explore the net, and System restore is my best friend in that regard. I
> also could go ahead and use VSSADMIN to resize the size of the volume shadow
> copy, but that reduces the number of system restores, and still leaves me
> with old copies of files that I cannot access.
>
> So is there any way I can either a access these files without upgrading, or
> if that is not possible to not have it shadow copy my files in the first
> place?

On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:46:02 -0400, Bert Kinney wrote:

>Are you referring to Previous Versions?
>http://bertk.mvps.org/html/shadow.html

Yes he is.

>piook wrote:

>> Okay, when I first heard about Vista one of the things that I thought was
>> really cool was that it would allow for a local version of Previous Versions
>> (Volume Shadow Copy, or TimeWarp) that would allow a file that was accidently
>> changed, deleted, or otherwise lost to be "returned" to a previous state.

The same Shadow Copy engine powers both System Restore (which Vista
changed the name of, for no good reason that I can see) and the new
Previous Versions feature you refer to above.

It's also involved in Backup, i.e. is what allows files to be backed
up even though they are in use.

>> Well over a year later I finally got a laptop with Vista Home Premium
>> a couple months after that I screwed up a spreadsheet and I
>> remembered the Volume Shadow Copy feature. So I start looking
>> online as how to access this feature and find out that it is only
>> available in Business Editions and up.

That's MS for you - why would a home user (even a "premium" one) want
to see their data again? Only business people make "real" data; home
users just watch TV (media center), right?

>> But then I found out that actually the Home versions of Vista do have Volume
>> Shadow Copy, and they even make the same "snapshots" as Business do.
>> But you just can't access these snapshots via "previous versions".

Yup

>> So now I am thinking... And I wonder why should I be dedication up to 15%
>> percent of my hard drive to this if I can't access it. So the first thing I
>> do is try and find out exactly how much room this is taking up on my system
>> and find out that running VSSADMIN in an elevated command prompt can show me
>> and I find that about 12% of my hard drive is being used by Volume Shadow
>> Copy. So can I turn it off and get this back. Well yes, but then I throw out
>> System Restore in the process. So that is out because I like to try things
>> and explore the net, and System restore is my best friend in that regard. I
>> also could go ahead and use VSSADMIN to resize the size of the volume shadow
>> copy, but that reduces the number of system restores, and still leaves me
>> with old copies of files that I cannot access.

Yup. See Item #3 here...

http://cquirke.spaces.live.com/blog/...ry?_c=BlogPart

>> So is there any way I can either a access these files without upgrading

No, though if you do upgrade (to Ultimate in your case, as there's no
upgrade path from OEM Home * to Business) you may see all your
previously hidden "previous versions" - including those made before
the upgeade by the useless (data file) activities of Shadow Copy.

And no, Shadow Copy is one lump - it's not possible to filter out
"previous versions" traffic, nor is it possible to set different
limits for SR and PV (see Item #2 in that URL).



>--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
Who is General Failure and
why is he reading my disk?
>--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

Indeed I am referring to previous versions, and I want to know if there is a
way that I can turn that off without turning off the system restore (like a
way to exclude directories from the Volume Shadow Copy). Or better yet if
there is a way for me to be able to access the "Previous Versions" without
having to upgrade to Ultimate (like installing a file like TWClient like the
XP machines did that were connected to a Windows 2003 Server).

Any Microsoft people watching this who know of a way to do either of the
above and to shed some light on all things pertaining to Volume Shadow Copy/
Previous Versions/
Thanks,
piook
--
piook is a long standing psuedo-name that resulted from a typo on the old
computer game "Where in the USA IS Carmen Sandiego", and it stuck.



"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" wrote:

> On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:46:02 -0400, Bert Kinney wrote:
>
> >Are you referring to Previous Versions?
> >http://bertk.mvps.org/html/shadow.html
>
> Yes he is.
>
> >piook wrote:
>
> >> Okay, when I first heard about Vista one of the things that I thought was
> >> really cool was that it would allow for a local version of Previous Versions
> >> (Volume Shadow Copy, or TimeWarp) that would allow a file that was accidently
> >> changed, deleted, or otherwise lost to be "returned" to a previous state.
>
> The same Shadow Copy engine powers both System Restore (which Vista
> changed the name of, for no good reason that I can see) and the new
> Previous Versions feature you refer to above.
>
> It's also involved in Backup, i.e. is what allows files to be backed
> up even though they are in use.
>
> >> Well over a year later I finally got a laptop with Vista Home Premium
> >> a couple months after that I screwed up a spreadsheet and I
> >> remembered the Volume Shadow Copy feature. So I start looking
> >> online as how to access this feature and find out that it is only
> >> available in Business Editions and up.
>
> That's MS for you - why would a home user (even a "premium" one) want
> to see their data again? Only business people make "real" data; home
> users just watch TV (media center), right?
>
> >> But then I found out that actually the Home versions of Vista do have Volume
> >> Shadow Copy, and they even make the same "snapshots" as Business do.
> >> But you just can't access these snapshots via "previous versions".
>
> Yup
>
> >> So now I am thinking... And I wonder why should I be dedication up to 15%
> >> percent of my hard drive to this if I can't access it. So the first thing I
> >> do is try and find out exactly how much room this is taking up on my system
> >> and find out that running VSSADMIN in an elevated command prompt can show me
> >> and I find that about 12% of my hard drive is being used by Volume Shadow
> >> Copy. So can I turn it off and get this back. Well yes, but then I throw out
> >> System Restore in the process. So that is out because I like to try things
> >> and explore the net, and System restore is my best friend in that regard. I
> >> also could go ahead and use VSSADMIN to resize the size of the volume shadow
> >> copy, but that reduces the number of system restores, and still leaves me
> >> with old copies of files that I cannot access.
>
> Yup. See Item #3 here...
>
> http://cquirke.spaces.live.com/blog/...ry?_c=BlogPart
>
> >> So is there any way I can either a access these files without upgrading
>
> No, though if you do upgrade (to Ultimate in your case, as there's no
> upgrade path from OEM Home * to Business) you may see all your
> previously hidden "previous versions" - including those made before
> the upgeade by the useless (data file) activities of Shadow Copy.
>
> And no, Shadow Copy is one lump - it's not possible to filter out
> "previous versions" traffic, nor is it possible to set different
> limits for SR and PV (see Item #2 in that URL).
>
>
>
> >--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
> Who is General Failure and
> why is he reading my disk?
> >--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
>

Hi Piook,

Pervious versions and and restore points are both types of Shadow Copies.
One cannot be removed without the other.

See, how to adjust disk space in Windows Vista:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/diskspacev.html

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

piook wrote:
> Indeed I am referring to previous versions, and I want to know if there is a
> way that I can turn that off without turning off the system restore (like a
> way to exclude directories from the Volume Shadow Copy). Or better yet if
> there is a way for me to be able to access the "Previous Versions" without
> having to upgrade to Ultimate (like installing a file like TWClient like the
> XP machines did that were connected to a Windows 2003 Server).
>
> Any Microsoft people watching this who know of a way to do either of the
> above and to shed some light on all things pertaining to Volume Shadow Copy/
> Previous Versions/
> Thanks,
> piook

So are you saying that I am stuck with something that takes up x amount of
resources but that I only have access to half of the functionality of that
service?
If so that sucks.
But it seems that I have read that I can exclude directories from being
shadow copied with a registry edit. Does anyone know if this is true? And if
it is how to do it?
--
piook is a long standing psuedo-name that resulted from a typo on the old
computer game "Where in the USA IS Carmen Sandiego", and it stuck.



"Bert Kinney" wrote:

>
> Hi Piook,
>
> Pervious versions and and restore points are both types of Shadow Copies.
> One cannot be removed without the other.
>
> See, how to adjust disk space in Windows Vista:
> http://bertk.mvps.org/html/diskspacev.html
>
> Regards,
> Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
> http://bertk.mvps.org
> Member: http://dts-l.org
>
> piook wrote:
> > Indeed I am referring to previous versions, and I want to know if there is a
> > way that I can turn that off without turning off the system restore (like a
> > way to exclude directories from the Volume Shadow Copy). Or better yet if
> > there is a way for me to be able to access the "Previous Versions" without
> > having to upgrade to Ultimate (like installing a file like TWClient like the
> > XP machines did that were connected to a Windows 2003 Server).
> >
> > Any Microsoft people watching this who know of a way to do either of the
> > above and to shed some light on all things pertaining to Volume Shadow Copy/
> > Previous Versions/
> > Thanks,
> > piook
>