System Restore (Win10) - First In, First Out?

Since a fixed amount of storage space is allocated to System Restore there's obviously a limit to the number of restore points that can be saved. Windows indicates that it manages this by deleting the oldest restore point when the remaining allocated space becomes insufficient for a newly created restore point; but after recently creating a new restore point I was shocked to find all of my restore points were gone!

 

My personal experience is that you can't really rely on Win System Restore. On my Win 8 system it says it will remove crucial drivers.

 

That happened to me, too. Therefore I configured the Windows Backup/Restore set-up so as to require Windows to use my external USB drive for its Backups. I never make that drive available to Windows except when it is in use to backup files. Since adopting that method, I have had no problem with disappearing backups.

 

i'm with rasheed on this one. sr's futile. just disable sr completely and use a 3rd party imaging sw and store your backups on an external disk or on the cloud.

 

How did you manage to configure SR to do that?

 

I always do an image-backup at the end of the day, but I like to use SR for intra-day recoveries and I have found that routine to be quite reliable and useful. Actually, the recent (one-time) disappearance of all Recovery Points is the only issue I have ever had with SR.

 

• Press Windows key.
• Type in Backup and Restore.
• Under Backup or Restore your files, select "set up backup" or (on Win7) "change settings".
• Once the set up starts you'll get an option to choose the destination drive. NOTE-- external drive must be inserted/available to Windows when you are setting up Backup, or Windows won't offer that drive as an option
  
• And then follow the onscreen instructions.

This works on my Win7 laptop. My daughter took my Win10 laptop on a business trip so I don't know if Win10 has the same setup. I *assume* it does.

 

One of the first thing i disable after a clean install is system restore, useless, built-in imaging program of Windows never failed me.

 

Unless I'm in La La Land, what you are describing is only applicable to Windows 7 Backup, not System Restore!!!

 

How often do you image? Does Windows imaging program only do full images, or can it also do differentials &/or incrementals? Have you ever had to restore an image made by the Windows program? If so, will you please give me the steps involved in restoring from an external drive?

guest, these are honest questions for which I have been unable to get answers. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

- One image after a clean install (Windows updated, with my needed drivers and basic softs). i will store it on one of the HDD partition (my OS being on SSD) and never touch it.
- Before, every Cumulative Updates, i restore the previous clean image, update the various softs i use, update Windows; so i have a still clean image to backup again stored on .

Only Full. but if you have several partitions, you can store one backup per partition.

i always do.

1- you must reboot on Advanced Startup, you have many ways to do it.
2- then once in it > Troubleshot > Advanced Options > System Image Recovery > then follow the wizard (don't forget your password)
(the OS should detect your external drive).

 

i do the same except for the "store it on one of the HDD partition" part. i store my backups on two separate external disks and on the cloud.

 

yes, same result, it's just more convenient for me, no cable to plug ^^

 

i hear what you're saying but the logic behind my approach is to have an insurance in case of a hw failure or a faulty/dead drive, etc.

 

i saw what you meant, my machines have the OS on SSD and datas on HDD ( 2-drives laptops)

 

yeah i know it from your previous post from which i quoted:

 

The previous several posts (starting with #10) are off-topic! The topic is System Restore (more specifically, the disappearance of restore points). This thread was not intended to discuss image-backup! If you do not use SR then please bring your image-backup interests to some other (appropriate) thread.

 

Used any cleaning software lately? CCleaner can remove all SR restore points, but the last one.Not to mention, lowering the size or a manual cleanup commands, like:

Code:

vssadmin delete shadows /for=c: /all /quiet
vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /Maxsize=5GB

The point is, that SR has not been really updated since XP. It is unreliable, it is a joke and it breaks for no reason.
If you want to backup system, there are better alternatives, like RollBack Rx Home or AOMEI Backupper Standard.

 

Up until the recent disappearance of my restore points (and as you said, a cleaner could very well be the culprit), I have found SR to be reliable (insofar as what it is intended to do). As mentioned earlier in this thread I do use image-backup on a daily basis, but that is not what this thread is about.

 

Restore points will normally be purged by the oldest one first. They can be wiped out by disk cleanup, 3rd party cleanup utilities, and even some Windows Updates.I find it effective enough for some minor changes gone wrong, and of course a full re-image if needed. It sucked when it was introduced with Windows ME, but I have't had many issues with it since Windows 7 and newer. Watch out for the twice yearly Windows 10 updates (spring and fall updates) as they reset a lot of settings.

 

Win10 here. Thanks for the interesting link.

 

Indeed it is. Windows 10 shenanigans but then every version-update-upgrade is lauded as advancing to a better experience.

 

Come to think of it, the dissappearance happened about the time that I installed Win10 v1803.

 

That explains it. You can not use system restore to roll back prior to an upgrade, so they get removed to prevent an user from even trying and once windows.old gets removed, it is definite.

Well I was recommending system restore alternatives, not system imaging.