Solved Free Hard drive space shrinking

[Brink]

GradeAbra,

Can you post back a screenshot of this? I'll take a look at it to see what it may be.

 

[Brink]

Brink Is it a good idea to turn system restore off?
I personally use (Control Panel\Backup and Restore Center\backup computer)

Hi Panais,

It depends on if you keep good backups in case you need to reinstall. However System Restore may be able to fix a issue without having to reinstall. It's really just depends on what you prefer though.

 

[GradeAbra]

Brink its the first image you see on the link you posted above. The one with a finger pointing.

 

[Brink]

This is normal then GradeAbra. When you do your first System Restore, this will be the screen you will see afterwards giving you the option to undo the System Restore you just did, or choose a different restore point to do a System Restore with instead.

 

[GradeAbra]

Yes this makes sense. I perform system restore afew times. After that then i realise this changes. Thanks for clarifying this to me Shawn.

 

[Brink]

You're welcoem GradeAbra.

 

[GradeAbra]

Hi Brink,

Do you think that Macrium Reflect is better than System restore? I really hate turning on the system restore because i found no way to delete the shadow copy. I wonder will Macrium Reflect do better than this? If my pc gets into trouble one day can i use Reflect to get me back to previous state/setting like system restore?

Oh and also does Window XP create shadow copy? My desktop is using XP, i never had any problem with shadow copy before. If yes how can i delete the shadow copy in XP?

 

[Brink]

Yes, much better.

Macrium Reflect backs up your entire hard drive. System Restore only backs up Vista System files and does not always fix the problem if it was not a problem with a system file.

Not sure with XP.

 

[GradeAbra]

Do i have to keep on updating my C drive "image" to keep it up to date?

 

[Brink]

Unfortunately yes.

 

[GradeAbra]

I am curious do you yourself use this programme?

Macrium Reflect is a programme on its own. If my PC breaks down or encounter disk failure, will it still function well?

By the way my system restore is set to Max 3Mb. when 3Mb is reached, it reset back to 0. And my last restore point got deleted somehow. This is quite dangerous if i am not aware of it when the pc breaks down....Do you have any solution for this? I think i will need a Macrium Reflect for backing up.

 

[Brink]

I do not use the program since my Vista Ultimate has a drive image backup feature built into it. You should be able to boot from the backup dvds it creates to restore Vista back to the hard drive though.

 

[GradeAbra]

You are saying that i can save my Image into a dvd just incase i cannot access to it during my pc failure..

Oh and one more important thing. How much space will Reflect takes up when creating another image of my C drive? How should i set 3rd party drive image programs to manual as needed to save hard drive space? The tutorial did not mention about this.

 

[Brink]

I'm not certain GradeAbra. It largely depends on how much it is backing up and how much it can compress it on the backup.

This is the link for all of the tutorials to help show you how to use Macrium Reflect. It should be able to give you better details on this program.

 

[GradeAbra]

Thanks for the link.

I am curious to know how can i upgrade to Vista Ultimate? I don't know if Reflect is suitable for me.

 

[Brink]

You can purchase a retail Vista Ultimate upgrade DVD. Afterwards, you can use the tutorial below to do a clean install with it if you did not want to upgrade from within your current Vista.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/68767-clean-install-upgrade-vista.html


These links will help show you how to create and restores a drive image backup in Vista:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/99709-backup-complete-computer.html

and

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/99718-restore-complete-computer.html

 

[GradeAbra]

If i straight away upgrade to Ultimate, will all my current files and setting get clean off?

Is the version of Vista i am using now good actually?

 

[Brink]

Yes, you can do a upgrade install of Ultimate from within your current edition and keep all of your current settings and installed programs and files.

There is nothing wrong with your edition of Vista. It just doesn't have some of the features that are included with the Ultimate edition, like the complete computer drive image backup feature. You would have to use a 3rd party drive image program (ex: Macrium Reflect) instead for that feature.

You can compare the features between the different Vista editions below to see if the extra features are worth it for you or not to upgrade.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx

 

[GradeAbra]

If i follow the "Clean Install From Upgrade Vista" guide, i can retain everything/setting /files with no problem at all? How long will this setup takes?

Which version is mine actually? Home Basic, Home Premium or Business?

 

[Brink]

No, doing a clean install will format and wipe your hard drive clean. You will need to select to do a Upgrade install instead during installation. Very much like how in this tutorial.


To see what edition you have, open the Start menu and type winver in the search line and press Enter. You will see what edition you have at the top of the "About Windows" window.