"Mike Hall - MVP" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Julian" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> It's not a bug - it's a completely idiotic feature of Vista Home Premium
>> (and maybe Basic too)
>>
>> System Restore relies on Shadow Storage - which MS also uses to provide
>> "previous version" file capabilities in higher-end Vista systems.
>>
>> However, Vista is in fact still taking copies of ALL your files - thereby
>> eating up space that you might reasonably have thought was solely for
>> System Restore points. Result: ShadowStorage fills up very quickly and
>> your restore points are dumped.
>>
>> See
>> http://berossus.blogspot.com/2008/02...ng-system.html
>> and the links therein for what I eventually found on the web once I knew
>> what to look for. It has been known about since last year apparently...
>>
>> Personally I am outraged at the lack of control over my own system, and
>> specifically the completely useless System Restore capability that has
>> resulted.
>>
>> MS should be ashamed. Very, very ashamed.
>>
>> But thanks to everyone who helped me track down the problem
>>
>> --
>> Julian I-Do-Stuff
>>
>> Some Vista stuff, but mostly just Stuff at http://berossus,blogspot.com
>
>
> You would be more outraged if Vista could not recover itself as well as it
> can..
I hate to sound as though I am anti-Vista - because I'm not - but at the
moment Vista seems less able to recover itself than my XP machines - though
fortunately it also seems to require less recovery.
My perhaps ill-made point was that the lack of control over what goes in
Shadow Storage prevented me from prioritising the storage of Restore Points
so that Vista could recover itself via System Restore (other mechanisms I am
unaware of).
The one and only occasion (thankfully!) that I needed System Restore there
was only 1 restore point less than 12 hours old and Vista could not recover
itself at all... leading to further problems as a result of an alternate
recovery strategy and a whole weekend's work, and it was this issue that
made me begin to pay attention to System Restore etc.
However I do now have a tentative solution to the System Restore without
Shadow-Copy-of-other-files issue, which I am testing. I want to let some
(useful!) System Restore points accumulate and check that nothing else has
been upset before giving a verdict, but I'll post back when I have some
news...
....taking care of course to provide only the information here and not to
spam the group with a footnote link to blog or blogs <g>
---
Julian I-Do-Stuff
Some Vista stuff, but mostly just Stuff at... just my blog, not important
really...