system restore

I have a problem with my computer automatically disabling
system restore. Restore points will not be retained for
more than one day. I read previous posts on the %1 to %2
problem which i sometimes get, although my computer will
still load when i hit enter. I checked my _restore folder
and at this point i have 163mb, but at one time i had
28,000. It seems i am well below the 64,000 limit that
suggested i need to delete the _restore folder. However, i
am thinking of doing this anyway just to eliminate that it
is a partial cause of my restore problems. Anyone know if
should do this and should i disable system restore
beforehand?

If you sometimes get the %1 %2 error you need to fix this before
proceeding further. You don't include details of how many files are
currently in the _C:\_RESTORE\TEMP folder, and doing so could help those
who might be able to help you but it might appear that the number is
currently quite low. However if your system is otherwise functioning
correctly and you don't need to use system restore then I would agree that
clearing down the _RESTORE archive would probably be the best way to go.
There's no need to disable system restore prior to doing this otherwise I
suspect that Noel and myself would have included such a detail in our many
posts on the subject. :-) For your convenience I have pasted some
instructions below on how to do this.

I would only worry about disappearing system restore checkpoints if this
continues to happen following your clearance of the _RESTORE archive.

Delete the folder as follows:
a) Boot to DOS using a floppy. Do NOT choose "Minimal Boot" from the menu
when booting from a floppy but rather choose "Start computer with (or
without) CD-ROM support" otherwise the ATTRIB command will not be
available.
b) At the DOS A:\ prompt, type:
ATTRIB -H -S -R C:\_RESTORE
and then
REN C:\_RESTORE OLDREST
c) Remove the floppy
d) Reboot your PC
e) Delete the folder C:\OLDREST
f) Check that an automatic system restore checkpoint was created.
g) Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder: System |
Performance | File System | Hard Disk and adjust the restore slider to
your preferred setting. A figure of 200MB is normally more than adequate
for day to day use allowing perhaps a week of checkpoints to be available
although increasing this to perhaps 400MB for a few days during periods of
large installs such Microsoft Office is advisable.

I would suggest that you now carry out the following quick test:
a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file.
b) Create a manual checkpoint
Could you create a checkpoint?
c) Delete the shortcut
d) Restore your PC to the checkpoint you created.
Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
e) Reboot your PC
Were the checkpoints retained?

Regards,
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]



encryption wrote:

I have a problem with my computer automatically disabling
system restore. Restore points will not be retained for
more than one day. I read previous posts on the %1 to %2
problem which i sometimes get, although my computer will
still load when i hit enter. I checked my _restore folder
and at this point i have 163mb, but at one time i had
28,000. It seems i am well below the 64,000 limit that
suggested i need to delete the _restore folder. However, i
am thinking of doing this anyway just to eliminate that it
is a partial cause of my restore problems. Anyone know if
should do this and should i disable system restore
beforehand?

Thanks,

I cleared the archive yesterday and so far, so
good. The system automatically created a new checkpoint
and the test of the restore worked. All the restore points
created yesterday are still there. I didn't see one
automatically created for today after i booted up? What
determines when the system automatically creates one?
Also, if you have the hard drive set on minimum amount of
space for restore storage, approximately how many restore
point are retained before they get overwritten? Many
thanks, Encryption

Also, if you have the hard drive set on minimum amount of
space for restore storage, approximately how many restore
point are retained before they get overwritten?

This very much depends on what activity in terms of software changes you
make. Here on a stable where few changes are being made to software and
the minimum 200MB is allocated to the restore archive I normally have
around 15 checkpoints available. Each checkpoint on that box is around
8.3MB so if no system changes were made that could mean as many as 23-24!

If a PC is left running 24/7 an automatic checkpoint should be made about
every 10 hours provided the system is idle at the time. If switched on
and off daily then a checkpoint will be made roughly each day but again
only if the system is sufficiently idle to do so. For example if you were
to switch a PC on, almost immediately start working and then switch of
when finished you may well get no checkpoints for some days. If however
after doing some work at the PC you leave it and go and make yourself a
coffee you may well find the PC has made a checkpoint whilst you were away
from the PC.

BTW checkpoints (RG*.CAB files) and their associated data files (FS*.CAB
files) don't as such get over-written but rather older files are discarded
as newer files are created. This is triggered when the archive approaches
95+% of the space allocated after which it will attempt to reduce the
space used to 70% of the space allocated. If however a large change was
made that required many MB of files to be archived (lets say 150MB) this
would cause many checkpoints to be discarded during that change so as to
make space for the new files and also when the time came for that
checkpoint to be discarded could mean that the archive went from being
full to almost empty.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004]



Encryption wrote:

I cleared the archive yesterday and so far, so
good. The system automatically created a new checkpoint
and the test of the restore worked. All the restore points
created yesterday are still there. I didn't see one
automatically created for today after i booted up? What
determines when the system automatically creates one?
Also, if you have the hard drive set on minimum amount of
space for restore storage, approximately how many restore
point are retained before they get overwritten? Many
thanks, Encryption

My success was shortlived. I had approximately 6 restore
points and restored to the last one. When it didn't
resolve what i was working on, i clicked "undo last
restoration". It worked. However, when i looked back all
my restore points were gone except the last one. So it is
not holding on to very many restore points. I can't
imagine that undoing a restoration would cause previous
points to be deleted. The _restore\temp file has 32.5 mg
if this is useful. I really appreciate your time and
expertise. Encryption

The undo restore point will be as large as the restored to point. If the
difference between pre- and post- restore is large enough and earlier
restore points are large enough to thus cross the archive limit, this would
fifo all earlier restore points. Which is why you increase the archive size
temporarily for large installations (such as Office). It's a rare enough
scenario but a possibility for how running a restore can leave only one RP.

btw the size of _restore rather than _restore\temp is more indicative of how
much of the archive is in use. And isn't that 32.5 MB?

And now, back to Mike........


Shane


"encryption" wrote in message
...
My success was shortlived. I had approximately 6 restore
points and restored to the last one. When it didn't
resolve what i was working on, i clicked "undo last
restoration". It worked. However, when i looked back all
my restore points were gone except the last one. So it is
not holding on to very many restore points. I can't
imagine that undoing a restoration would cause previous
points to be deleted. The _restore\temp file has 32.5 mg
if this is useful. I really appreciate your time and
expertise. Encryption

Shane wrote:

The undo restore point will be as large as the restored to point. If
the difference between pre- and post- restore is large enough and
earlier restore points are large enough to thus cross the archive
limit, this would fifo all earlier restore points. Which is why you
increase the archive size temporarily for large installations (such
as Office). It's a rare enough scenario but a possibility for how
running a restore can leave only one RP.

btw the size of _restore rather than _restore\temp is more indicative
of how much of the archive is in use. And isn't that 32.5 MB?

And now, back to Mike........

Who has nothing to add to your comments Shane. :-)
--
Mike

I still can't hold onto restore points even i don't do any
restores. I had about six to eight restore points over
approximately three days and when i opened up the computer
they were gone. This has happened twice. Any thoughts?
Thanks once again.....!