[paco21]

Hello all,

I have just had my Vista system cleaned of malware here at Geeks2Go and now have a Clean restore point. In the past I have noticed that I did not have many choices in restore points, maybe 4 or 5 (with show hidden files selected) and they would move up very fast and then disappear. My question is how do I keep this Clean restore point available and if I can't, what's the point of making them?

Also I would like to set the size of the cache that holds these restore points, or at least view it, but can't find how to do that.

Thanks,
Paco21

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Restore Points are held in reserved portion of the hard drive which is set by default at around 15% of the total drive capacity which is not user-configurable. As new restore points are created, the oldest one is deleted if reserved space is all used up - that's just the way it works I'm afraid.

The only way to preserve a copy of a 'clean' and fully working installation is to use disk-imaging software to create a "snapshot" of everything currently on that partition, including the boot files. You can then keep this snapshot image safe on a separate partition (and preferrably on a separate hard disk altogether) so you can fall back on it following just about any type of catastrophy including total failure of the hard disk on which Windows is installed.

Disk-imaging software is avialble free as well as commercial versions which have more features for power users.
Free ones that I know of (and which I've used myself) include:

Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition: http://www.paragon-s...ome/db-express/

Macrium Reflect Free: http://www.macrium.com/ReflectFree.asp

EASEUS Todo Backup: http://www.todo-backup.com/

If you are willing to pay (USD 39), I can highly recommend one above all the others as I currently use it myself and it's so simple to use and totally reliable.
It's called Active Disk Image: http://www.disk-image.net/
There is no free version as such, but you can download a free trial version before you decide to buy it.
I bought it without hesitation. The licence permits you to install it on up to 3 computers, so I've used it to back up all three machines in my family. I tested every backup image and it fully restored every system without fail.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 09 July 2010 - 05:21 AM.

[phillipcorcoran]

Restore Points are held in reserved portion of the hard drive which is set by default at around 15% of the total drive capacity which is not user-configurable. As new restore points are created, the oldest one is deleted if reserved space is all used up - that's just the way it works I'm afraid.

The only way to preserve a copy of a 'clean' and fully working installation is to use disk-imaging software to create a "snapshot" of everything currently on that partition, including the boot files. You can then keep this snapshot image safe on a separate partition (and preferrably on a separate hard disk altogether) so you can fall back on it following just about any type of catastrophy including total failure of the hard disk on which Windows is installed.

Disk-imaging software is avialble free as well as commercial versions which have more features for power users.
Free ones that I know of (and which I've used myself) include:

Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition: http://www.paragon-s...ome/db-express/

Macrium Reflect Free: http://www.macrium.com/ReflectFree.asp

EASEUS Todo Backup: http://www.todo-backup.com/

If you are willing to pay (USD 39), I can highly recommend one above all the others as I currently use it myself and it's so simple to use and totally reliable.
It's called Active Disk Image: http://www.disk-image.net/
There is no free version as such, but you can download a free trial version before you decide to buy it.
I bought it without hesitation. The licence permits you to install it on up to 3 computers, so I've used it to back up all three machines in my family. I tested every backup image and it fully restored every system without fail.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 09 July 2010 - 05:21 AM.

[paco21]

phillipcorcoran,

Thanks for your reply and for the disk imaging software tips. I'll look into it.

"not user-configurable." re the restore point setting, is forever sounding. Is there no way to change the %? But you have already answered that.

Thanks again
Paco21

[duffking]

EDIT: Ah, I am missing something. Didn't realise this was a Vista thread. Ignore me.

Unless I'm missing something you can configure the size of the amount system restore can take up.

Right click my computer, and choose properties. From the left select system protection, choose your windows drive from the box at the bottom and then configure. There's a slider there that lets you configure the maximum usage.

I wouldn't change it though; doesn't matter how much space you let system restore have, your restore point is not going to stay there forever.

Edited by duffking, 10 July 2010 - 08:02 AM.

[paco21]

duffking,

Thanks for your reply, I thought there was a way to change it. But you're right, resizing wont make them stay forever.