Windows Vista Restore feature

I have a vista pc with a small hard drive. Found it was very short on free space and that 24 GB was filled up with restore data.

How do I get this beast to stop producing so many backups...

 

Have you tried this? http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/reduce-system-restores-disk-usage-in-vista/

 

Turn off system restore, it's junk, and a security risk.

 

You can get rid of multiple back-up images on Vista. It would be insanity to turn the restore feature off completely though.

 

Insanity a little harsh. What does system restore do? It slows downs installations and changes and when you need it the most, it fails. I prefer the "last known good config".

 

No, I stand by what I said. I have sometimes needed to restore to a much earlier image to rectify a problem. If you need the disc space keeping the 'last known config' is a wise thing to do though. I just think turning back-up & restore off completely is crackers.

For instance, what if you were cracked enough to remove the Microsoft .NET framework from your computer & then try to re-install an application like Paint.NET that relies on it to run?

People have done things as crazy as this (I haven't).

You'd be up the proverbial malodorous creek without a sufficient rowing implement, right?

 

Enabling or disabling depends on the user. I've got it disabled and have never needed it, but for someone else it might be wise to keep it enabled. If you leave it enabled and want to change the frequency with which it makes restore points, you can set it up in Task Scheduler. Basic instructions here:

http://www.ehow.com/how_8032388_automatically-restore-point-task-scheduler.html

 

I've very rarely had it fail, and when it does it is usually because of the "autoprotect" feature of some antivirus programs that stops it. Kaspersky and Norton come to mind.

 

I've never known it to fail & it has helped me several times over the years. If you have the disc space, just let it do its job. As I said previously, I think disabling it totally is akin to insanity. There are plenty of crazy people on the Internet though.

 

System Restore really has somewhat limited value. It may help with a minor situation or problem once in a while, but the best option by far is a real image of the system.

 

Agreed, and worse System Restore can cause issues, leave massive amounts of duplicate files, and fragment the registry to hell and back. Once you try something like RollbackRX, System Restore seems pathetic, and useless. I disable it on every machine I work on by default because it just seems to be more problematic then useful.

I am puzzled why Microsoft hasn't come up with better, or even come up with something like RollbackRX. Or even have a more protected, easily restored/backed up system like Linux Home Folders. Windows is like amateur hour and it gets old.

 

It seems to me System Restore in Windows is mainly for people who use automatic updates for everything on their system. It provides a quick fix when you don't know the root cause. If you're on top of what's getting onto your system it's relatively easy to find a fix.

I agree a true image of the primary partition is way better all around.

 

I've found backup & restore useful anyway. I still think, that for most users, it shouldn't be totally disabled. But, there again, I'm not an expert with computers.

Having said that: 'X' marks the spot & a spurt is a drip under pressure I guess.

 

I think System Restore does the job just fine when it is working. However it can't be relied on as there are the odd occasions where a system restore files midway through, leaving the system as it was before the restore, and cases on badly corrupted Windows installs where it won't even launch or failes to find exisitng restore points. Maybe this has improved under Windows 8 - I guess time will tell.

Is there a 3rd party alternative which essentially works the same as System Restore, i.e. it will restore the registry and certain files but not do a complete rollback?

 

You don't have to turn it off. Within CCleaner (by Piriform) if you choose "Tools/System Restore" you can manage all your system restore points except for the last one which may be needed.

 

Or you can limit the disk space used by restore points - by default it's 15% of your partition size.
http://lifehacker.com/254365/vista-tip--reduce-system-restore-disk-usage