Stopping my restore points from disappearing

vhawk

Posts: 176   +0
system restore has got this, know-nothing old fool out of a hole lots of times.

the other day , just when i needed one of those that i had routinely carefully created, they had disappeared.

can anyone tell me how and /or why?

perhaps my faith in restore points is misplaced, i'm clueless about computers.

two days ago my PC got stuck on the screen that has the white writing about memory and drives on it- what's that called? anyway, F2 miraculously got me to the option of a safe mode restart and thence a system restore and the old 'puter seemed saved-which was relief.i didn't have a clue what i was doing or why it worked. i'd probably have been better off sacrificing a chicken :) who knows?


i wish one could store the system restore information whatever it is on another drive, but i don't suppose one can, can one?
 
stupid of me to forget to say, Xp home, 2 gig of memory and an 80_ish gig hard drive, mostly full.
 
...is there any way to tell it not to do that?
But if you run out of disk space and if you could instruct Windows to not to delete old restore points, wouldn't Windows have to delete something else, like your important data, for example? That's probably why you can't instruct Windows otherwise. I mean when the hard drive runs out of space, it runs out of space.
 
thanks, i've got 7 gig left, is that enough? ow do i tell windows not to delete my restore points, idon't have a clue about these things?
i have got lots of space on a terrabyte drive to which i can cut and paste stuff, what would be best to move? i don't have that many pictures.
 
That's just it. I don't believe you can tell Windows not to delete restore points when the allocated space runs out.

According to the FAQs at CAMusing's link, the larger the drive, the larger the space allocated to system restore (approximately 12%). One possible thing you could do is replace the 80GB hard drive altogether with a larger drive, say another 1TB drive. That way you can install Windows on this new drive and leave your old 1TB drive alone and intact. Your operating system partition can be as large as you want to make it (keeping the 12% figure in mind) while still having plenty of storage space between the two physical hard drives.

Of course, there are some issues you need to allow for. You will need a Windows CD, of course. The SATA/RAID drivers can be an issue if you don't have a floppy drive or if you have difficulty making the alternative slipstream disk. Do you have a floppy drive?
 
thanks but that's all complicated jargon to this old fool who hasn't a clue about these things.

i dimly recall seeing a slidy thing for restore points space but lord knows where it lives, where are restore points kept? it's a pity they can't be stored on another drive.
i have my original xp disk and a floppy drive, but can one get floppy discs any more?

you used to be able to make a recovery disc, but not on a cd i'm told.
 
By default the space allocated by Windows should be at the maximum already. However, to check it: (from the site that CAMusing linked to)

Go to Start>> Control Panel
Double click the System icon
Click the System Restore tab
Click the Settings button

One place you can still get floppy diskettes is Newegg.com. I just checked.

If you decide to install Windows XP and need help, let us know and include what service pack level you have.
 
thanks that's very kind of you. i've no idea about service packs, i thought they came automarically with the updates. i think i'll stick with 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. it seems to work ok now. do you by any chance know anything about Skype or is that not a techspot thing?

BTW what is the technical name for the screen with white writing on a black screen that tells you about drives ans memory? it was getting stuck on that screen for about 5 mins but seems to have settled down now. being a cripple i'm very dependant on my computer and get in a tizzy if it plays up, being a daft old fool:)
 
Service packs are indeed obtained through Windows Updates but Windows installation CDs/DVDs can also come with service packs included, whatever is current at the time it is bought (generally speaking since you could be buying older stock).

I've heard a couple of names for that screen, post screen or BIOS startup screen.

Under the circumstances if you are not having any problems with your PC at the moment, I don't think I would bother with some of the suggestions I presented. I would just leave it alone. If you aren't familiar with the Windows installation process, you risk ending up with more problems than it's worth. That said, if you decide to do it, you can always call upon the TechSpot forums for help.
 
I think this might work. I haven't tried this personally.

If you have Ccleaner

Ccleaner > Tools > System Restore shows the current restore points, and allows you to remove all but the most recent restore point.

When you create an important restore point, name it so you can remember it.

From time to time use CCleaner to remove other 'unnecessary restore points'.

This might help you to keep the desired Restore Point, by reducing the space used up by the restore points.
 
yes thank you, i do i have ccleaner, i don't supose 'it' could have been wiping my restore points could it?

that sounds like a very useful trick, thank you very much,
 
I use Ccleaner myself from time to time and I've never seen it wipe any restore points unintentionally.
 
Ccleaner > Tools > System Restore just lists the Restore Points, and allows you to selectively remove Restore Points.

Using the Cleaner Option does not remove the restore points.
 
Be aware, Restore Points are frozen in time and the older they get, more and more changes
are becoming obviated if the RP is invoked.

The RP only captures the registry and system drivers which is far less than a system state backup.
A system state backup is immune from auto-delete, but also suffers the point-in-time limitation (kind of self-evident I'm sure)
 
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