System Restore

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I have turned off System Restore in Win ME.

What files and or directories from the _Restore directory can I safely delete

I have a whole group of files with names like

RG1013291722.CAB, occupying over 300Mb

plus more named like FS126.CAB

Are any other files directories safe to delete?

Are there any MS KB articles to read on the subject

Colin

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Colin, if you’ve turned it off, all the files in the _RESTORE directories are fair game. To pull it off though, you will need to do the following steps:

• Restart Windows Me to the Emergency Boot Disk (enter Minimal Boot ).
• Type C: to change to the C drive, and then press ENTER.
• Attrib -r -h -s _Restore , and then press ENTER.
• Type Ren _Restore SomeFolderName and press ENTER.
• Reboot.[/list]This will un-protect the system restore folders and allow you to delete them, or selectively delete contents from them.

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Mark

Thanks for the quick response.

I’ll go through it now.

Ta

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KB articles can be found at the MS Technical Database.
A search under Windows ME for “system restore” brings up hundreds of choices – you may want to be more specific in what you search for.

Good hunting.

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Thanks.

I had already searched the KB and a syou say, there were too many responses to be of any use.

I did try one or two variations without success.

Colin

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OK – try this pre-programmed search at Google – it looks like it may pick out the more salient points.

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Leif

Thanks. I had a look at the first few pages of results, and found a report from Fed Langa (always worth reading).

Amongst other points, he gave out a warning on the perils of removing System Restore, which have made me change my mind completely.

I’ve copied the relevant bit below.

“But wait! I’m not finished with the Restore folder yet. If you find that you’re getting bogged down by frequent disk access from the automatic System Restore saves or have limited disk space you can obviously turn off the System Restore altogether. Just be careful though because when its off completely, so is Fusion. What’s that you ask? Fusion is a little talked about system Microsoft first started adding in small chunks way back in Windows 95. Its job is to try to not overwrite older versions of files on top of new ones. Now you might have heard that this is a big feature in WinME and its one of my favorites. But no one tells you that its tied directly into System Restore. (If System Restore is completely off you’ll still get warnings if you try if install an older driver on top of a newer one, but your DLLs, .COMs, etc., won’t be protected anymore.) A better way if you dislike the frequent disk access of System Restore is to just turn down the System Restore Space Usage as mentioned above and things will quiet down a lot.”

Colin

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