XP's System Restore Question

[Netopia]

When using multiple partitions, does system restore use the space reserved on a drive for JUST that drive, or does system restore take the compilation of all restored space and use it for all drive.

Here's the situation. I've got a guy who wants system restore, but wants as much free space on his C: drive as possible. Since he has a big and empty D: drive (about 80GB), could I make the system restore reservation tiny on C: and HUGE on D:, or would that only make for a lot of room for changes to D: only?

Joe

 

[spyordie007]

System restore files stay on the same volume for which they are protecting; I'm not aware of a way to redirect it to a differant location.

You can set a lower limit on the drive so that it doesnt consume too much space, but that's about it.

 

[Netopia]

Thanks for the reply!

Joe

 

[spyordie007]

You could take a differant approch, like disabling system restore all together and using imaging software to image the drive; than the images could be stored wherever is best...?

 

[Netopia]

I already use Ghost for that. The guy just wants to be able to back track in case he does something dumb. I know it's not a perfect system, but SysRestore has actually saved me a bit of time on several occasions too, so I understand where he's coming from.

Thanks again,

Joe

 

[bruceb]

I would not count on System Restore .. It did not work on my Dell affter about 6 months of having the system
Once it gets screwed up, your out of luck ... Also, someone correct if I am mistaken, but System Restore
primarily restores the OS & Programs .. it does not back up your personal data

 

[spyordie007]

That's correct, in fact it's designed to leave your personal data alone. It's only intended to roll back System changes.

 

[Netopia]

That's all I'm talking about. I already make sure that data gets backed up. All I use system restore for is the occasion weird glitch where a piece of software gets strange on me or the like. In my limited use of it, it has 'nearly' always been able to roll back and fix a problem. The time I saved on those issues alone make it worth just being there for a "maybe this will work" sort of thing.

Joe

 

[Smilin]

I spent a year in the team at MS that fixes machines that fail to boot. I'm tellin you guys the gospel... never disable system restore. It will save your butt some day.

by all means crank down the disk space usage if you would like or better yet just hit the disk cleanup button (then advanced tab) on drive properties from time to time.

heck search this forum for "system restore". You'll find countless examples of butts it has saved and people that are crying becuase they disabled it.

 

[DasFox]

System Restore is terrible, no one should ever use it. I have seen it mess up the system to the point of needing a reinstall.

DEATH to System Restore is what I say!

ALOHA

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Smilin
I spent a year in the team at MS that fixes machines that fail to boot. I'm tellin you guys the gospel... never disable system restore. It will save your butt some day.

by all means crank down the disk space usage if you would like or better yet just hit the disk cleanup button (then advanced tab) on drive properties from time to time.

heck search this forum for "system restore". You'll find countless examples of butts it has saved and people that are crying becuase they disabled it.

Ditto - never disable System Restore. Keep it running all the time. It uses a tiny, tiny, tiny amount of disk space and only uses CPU time when you install new drivers or during a scheduled snapshot. It's excellent software that has helped millions.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: DasFox
System Restore is terrible, no one should ever use it. I have seen it mess up the system to the point of needing a reinstall.

By the time you use System Restore, the next step would probably be a reinstall, anyway.

I like having the System Restore available. It's saved my rear a couple of times.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: DasFox
System Restore is terrible, no one should ever use it. I have seen it mess up the system to the point of needing a reinstall.

DEATH to System Restore is what I say!

ALOHA

to the point of needing a reinstall eh? not an inplace upgrade / repair? couldn't boot in safe mode to try a different point? couldn't even reach recovery console to retrieve a damaged file or registry hive?

knowing absolutely nothing about your system problems other than your statement I would guess that either 1) You had problems so bad it wasn't possible for system restore to "make them worse" or 2) You don't know much about system recovery at all.

Just a guess though. Thanks for the bad advice!

 

[ivwshane]

I recently had an issue where I couldn't even boot the pc into safe mode. After replacing corrupt files by using a host system I was finally able to boot into safe mode and the first thing I did was try a system restore. Unfortunately it was corrupted and simply not an option


I personally don't run system restore myself because I've never needed it but I do like the idea. I just wish there was a tool that could do a restore point when you can't even boot to the system (ie missing or corrupt system file or ntoskrnl.exe).

 

[dclive]

BartPE.

 

[Smilin]

Yeah, BartPE or recovery console will let you fix your corrupt ntoskrnl or corrupt system hive.

How are you going to have a backup of your system hive if you aren't running system restore though?



System restore is still VERY useful even if the system is completely unbootable.

 

[pkme2]

I learned a long time ago, never to rely on a restore system with Norton and when Windows restore came around and 1 experience made me a hard believer in cloning. Its much easier on the nerves and stomach turmoils, clone it. Your choice of cloning tools. I use Norton Ghost. I get it with Norton Systemworks Premiere w/ AV.

 

[Netopia]

I'll give you an example (real life) of why I like system restore at least being an option.

Last week, my boss (on his home machine) installed an update to ZoneAlarm. After the update, it internet connection wouldn't work about 3/4 of the time, even if he disabled ZA. He then uninstalled the update and then totally uninstalled ZA. No difference.... something was changed and the uninstall didn't undo it.

He called, and I told him to go to a restore point one day before he installed the patch and explained how to do it. He called about a half hour later to say that ZA was now NOT uninstalled but it's as if the update was never run and that his internet was back to 100%. He was also amazed at how easy it was. I know that not every case ends this nicely, but this is just a general example of how having System Restore can save you from a lot more work.

Joe

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Smilin
I spent a year in the team at MS that fixes machines that fail to boot. I'm tellin you guys the gospel... never disable system restore. It will save your butt some day.

by all means crank down the disk space usage if you would like or better yet just hit the disk cleanup button (then advanced tab) on drive properties from time to time.

heck search this forum for "system restore". You'll find countless examples of butts it has saved and people that are crying becuase they disabled it.

QFT

The only caution with System Restore is long term infections with malware/viruses. Your AV package may see them and be unable to fix them, but if you do use system restore for a malware related problem, immediately work on disinfecting it.

And for the bitheads...

VBScript to initiate a checkpoint

'use WMI moniker and SystemRestore class to set checkpoint
set SRP = getobject("winmgmts:\\.\root\default:Systemrestore")
CSRP = SRP.createrestorepoint ("Check Point Alpha", 0, 100)

I have that code in my unattended build so that if a tech does install a bad driver (more than once ) or a bad software distribution, they have an option to use the restore point to recover.

Edit = code is spelled code and not could. Insufficient coffee ingestion to blame?

 

[dclive]

I like that, gsellis!

Does a driver install force a SR checkpoint creation tho?

Ah, nevermind:
When are restore points created?
A.

The user can manually create a restore point at any time on their computer using the System Restore Wizard. Restore Points are also automatically created on your computer when:
?

Installing an unsigned device driver
?

Installing System Restore compliant applications (Installing an application that uses Windows Installer, or Install Shield Pro version 7.0 or later, causes System Restore to create a restore point)
?

Installing an update by using Automatic Updates
?

Performing a System Restore operation so the user can undo that restore operation if needed
?

Restoring data from backup media using the Backup tool
?

Creating daily restore points (System Restore creates a restore point every 24 hours if the computer is on or 24 hours have passed since the last restore point was created)