How To: Reduce Disk Space Used By Windows Vista System Restore
section: windows, for your questions: KezNews forum, 24.4.2007
So you just bought a new notebook with Windows Vista and a roomy 120GB hard drive. But after using it for just a couple of days, you notice that you’ve only got about 90GB free.
You could swear there was more room available when you brought it home, so it can’t be that Windows takes up 30GB. And you hadn’t installed too many programs yet, or added your entire music and video collection yet. So what gives?
Well, it turns out Windows Vista handles system restore a little differently than Windows XP. Whereas with XP, you could adjust how much memory system restore took up with a little slider bar, there’s no visible way to adjust your system restore memory settings on Vista. And by default, Windows sets aside a hefty 15% of your hard drive.
In principal, this is great, because not only is Windows backing up your system settings, but there’s a new feature that copies your files as well, making it easy to restore your system in the event of an emergency. But while Windows Vista Home Premium will backup those files for you, it turns out that you need to upgrade to Vista Ultimate if you actually want to restore from that backup. If you have no intention of doing that, here’s how you can adjust the amount of memory your computer allocates for system restore…
First, let’s see how much storage space is currently allocated:
1. Click the start menu
2. Click on All Programs, and then Accessories
3. From the accessories menu, right click on Command Prompt and select “run as administrator”
4. Type “vssadmin list shadowstorage” into the command prompt
5. The results should tell you the amount of storage used and the maximum amount alloted
If you’re not happy with those numbers, here’s how to resize them. Keep in mind, you will lose some older system restore points when you do this.
1. Repeat steps 1-3 to get bring up the Command Prompt
2. Type “vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=[your hard disk]: /On=[your hard disk]: /MaxSize=[how much space you want to allocate]”
3. For example: “vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=2GB”
4. You should get a message saying Successfully resized the shadow copy storage association, and you should have more free space on your hard drive.
source:
fanpotai.wordpress.com
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Comments(14)
very good :)
i had noticed i only had a small amount of space left on my hard drive. i ran the above,
now i freed up 20g! wow! thanks!
goog sh*t thanks for that
i dont need to free up some space, yet.
but does it have any consequenses??
is it just my pc or has anyone else noticed there pc is more responsive/faster after
reducing the size of h/d disk space used? i reduced it to 1 gig and my pc seems to be
running at the speed of an xp pc... woohoo
paul
i've noticed that the vista is much faster if you totally disable the system restore
option. maybe you'll live on the wild side for a while, but surely you backup important
stuff to other removable drives - right? :o)
i ran the command prompt as administrator and typed:
"vssadmin list shadowstorage"
and the result in:
"no items found that satisfy the query"
i have a new laptop running vista home premium have its suppose to have 120gb but
only has about 90ish free. i havent installed much and even uninstalled some pre-installed
software so i know that something is eating up my space....
what should i do?
[quote]but surely you backup important stuff to other removable drives - right?
:o)[/quote]
i used to on xp disable system restore completely and yes i have 2
other hard drives attached with xp and 2000 installed on them, but i use my vista h/d for
vista and the odd installed program and the large xp h/d for downloaded films/programs and
so on.
paul
for example: “vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=c: /on=c: /maxsize=2gb”...what do you
mean by this what do i have to type?
i've disabled the system restore option in windows vista, i don't use it. if the os get
trashed i don't have to worry about it, i simply load the image file of my hard disk and
then i have a fresh windows vista installed in my computer; i only need to install the
antivirus and restore my backup (i always backup my information in the server with a sync
tool).
it means that it will resize the drive c and set the max size for system restore to 2gb
freed up 18 gigs... thanks.
never even typed a thing... just
copied "vssadmin
list shadowstorage" from the article, and at the command prompt..right clicked and chose
paste..
to see how much was used, then copied and pasted “vssadmin resize
shadowstorage/for=c:/on=c:/maxsize=2gb”
it's about time a good and useful tip on vista came through. thanks!
omg ty so much!
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gooood!
By wari0master on 24.04.2007 - 11:04