Auto System Restore not working

I have XP + SP2 installed.
Yes, System Restore is turned on. At right-click on My Computer, then click the System Restore tab shows Status is Monitoring.
In the registry the repeat interval of 24 hours (in seconds) is correct, likewise the 90 day retain period.
There is hugely ample space on all drives for saving the restore data.
I can create many manual restore points on a single day if I want - just for testing
System Restore used to work fine (months ago).
Manually entered restore points seem to stick around - at least more than 24 hours.

I notice that after midnight any day, the new day date in the system restore calendar is automatically bolded, indicating (I assume) an auto restore point has been created. But - here's the problem - after midnight on that day, i.e. 24 hours later the bolding has disappeared, that restore point has gone.

How do I get auto restore to create a persistent restore point every 24 hours, like it used to?

Thanks,
xmonday

 

XP may or may NOT create a restore point for the current day, based on file activity which has changed from previous "Restore point ".
Do you have any previous dates which are bold? If yes, when you click on them, does it state a time / date when file was created?
If NO, please leave computer on for a minimum of 25 hours and check for a Restore point. If one is created, click on it for "time of day" file was created. Please review this "Time stamp ". Is this a normal time the computer would be powered up?

Have you applied any MS updates this month? XP should "Automatically" create a Restore point right before new files are installed. They could have been created, then removed by XP at a later date based on how much free disk space is on your HDD and how much monitored file activity has changed since that restore point date.

If you are running multiply partitions, drives, (including externals) EXCLUDE them from Restore point monitoring. Only INCLUDE system boot drive (normally C/ drive).

 

Thank you, Steve.

Yes, It is set to max 12% (= 2399 Mbs).

Thank you, Dennis.

Only one "automatic" one, that is today's - that was created automatically the most recent midnight. The manual points I have created on previous days remain.

It does not have a time date stamp, only a message which state "There are no restore points created yet for this day ". I expect this bolding to disappear at midnight tonight (unless I manually add a restore point - which will have a time/date stamp)

I have done this. For the new day just begun it creates bolding, but no time/date stamp. For the day just ended the bolding goes away (if I have not added any manual points for that day). The time/date stamps for the manual points are correct.

Almost certainly. The "restore" calendar will not give me access to previous months (now, though it used to)

C:\ drive has 6.5 GB of free space

Yes, I am running multiple partitions, including an external for Acronis True Image backup. I will exclude them and see what happens tonight

xmonday

 

xmonday, I have seen it happen that the System Volume Information directory will get some data files trapped in it and register as being full although the files aren't accessible by the System Restore Applet.

In those cases, it is necessary to delete the files manually. To do this you must first adjust your view setting to show hidden files and folders. Then disable System Restore and reboot. Then try deleting the C:\System Volume Information directory. If you get "Access Denied" error, then you will need to assign youself permission to access that directory.

There are several ways to do that. If you need help with that, post back for further directions.

 

Thank you surferdude 2
Although I have hidden files and folders visible (Control Panel>Folder Options>View>Hidden files and folder: Show hidden files and folders:checked) I cannot find a directory (or folder) named C:\System Volume Information - or even close to that (using the Search tool set to Search hidden folders AND system folders).

In searching around I found C:\Windows\System32\Restore with 4 files in it, but chose not to blindly mess with them.
Also At Control Panel>Admin. Tools>Services I find System Restore Services: Status : Started, and Startup Type: Automatic.

And finally at Control Panel>Admin Tools>Event Viewer there are many srservice events listed, but on seemingly random days, usually events 107 and 108 close together, but one 110 and six 114 events.

System Restore is now "on" for C:\ only.

xmonday

 

Researching events 107 and 108, I find for event 107:

The System Restore service has been suspended because there is not enough disk space available on the drive \\?\Volume{8aaca7a6-1ce1-11dc-b5dc-000cf194ac30}\. System Restore will automatically resume service once at least 200 MB of free disk space is available on the system drive.

Aha! But where do I find drive \\?\Volume{8aaca7a6-1ce1-11dc-b5dc-000cf194ac30}\. Search tool doesn't find anything.

Any suggestions?
xmonday

 

I can't be sure which drive is being referred to by drive \\?\Volume{8aaca7a6-1ce1-11dc-b5dc-000cf194ac30}\ but if you continue to get that message after disabling System Restore on all drives except the C: drive, you can assume it's the C: drive being referred to. If you're really curious, you can check the Registry Key at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices and match the drive up with the system designation for it.

Have you tried disabling System Restore on all drives, then rebooting and enabling it on the C: drive (system drive) only? Under normal circumstances, that will delete all the old restore points and start fresh.

Then you must also run a Disk Cleanup on your drive to make sure there is not an inordinate amount of useless files taking up valuable space.

Then if the problem persists, please see the following thread for more methods that are likely relevant:

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=70921

 

The error report references the system drive. My guess is that would mean the drive you have Windows installed on.

In MY Computer, right click on each drive and choose properties. It'll show you the amount of disk space available on each drive.

 

This appears to be the fix. Thank you for this suggestion. surferdude2
The restore points appear to be hidden in some place that is not accessible (at least by me), nor can you find out how much space they are occupying. It would appear that the space was filled up, but the machine had somehow "lost contact" with the "automatic" points in that space. Ever time it tried to save another one it couldn't. All examinations of the C:\ drive showed ample free space - I conclude that the restore points have "their own" private space separate from the "free space ", and are unable to use the "free space ".
I conclude this by double-clicking on the srservice events in the Control Panel>Admin tools>Event Viewer
Event 107
The System Restore service has been suspended because there is not enough disk space available on the drive \\?\Volume{8aaca7a6-1ce1-11dc-b5dc-000cf194ac30}\. System Restore will automatically resume service once at least 200 MB of free disk space is available on the system drive.

and Event108:
The System Restore service has resumed monitoring due to space freed on the system drive.

 

This is because you turned off system restore on your drive(s). Turning it off, deletes all restore points, freeing up space so that there's enough free space for it to work again. It would appear that you are probably short on free space on one of your drives. Keep an eye on it. As system restore continues to create restore points, your free space will slowly dwindle away causing you to have this problem again in the future. If you do, at least you'll know what to do.

 

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that when the system restore "space" fills up, the oldest points are dropped to accomodate the new points - which makes sense. Having the system restore just stop working and for all the points to disappear is not sensible. Something must have hiccuped on my system, perhaps months ago, but I was unaware of it. Checking available space unfortunately doesn't seem to help, it said there was plenty (in fact > 6GBs) but not according to event 107. I think they are checking different "spaces" even though almost certainly on the same C:\ drive.
And in fact the link offered in this thread to a "missing space" thread showed there are many instances of unexplained missing or hidden space.
Thanks to all who contributed.

xmonday

 

Possibly the reason you aren't "seeing" the system volume information folder is that you only enabled to see hidden files and folders and didn't untick hide protected operating system files a little bit further down the same folder options, view tab. System Volume Information folder should then appear when you double click your C drive icon. You will have to give yourself ownership if you want to open the folder, as has been mentioned.

You have 6 GB's free, just wondering what is the overall size of the system C drive to give an idea of the percentage of the drive that's free ? Sounds very much as has been mentioned that you are having to get rid of restore points to give room to make some new ones.

 

Aha! Thank you Les28. I had not noticed that option. Now I see a folder with restore in its name - but which is already 128 MB with only 3 days of restore points. Within that folder each day has a ~40 MB folder of the registry. Should the registry folders be as much as ~40 MB for each day? Seems huge for just data. But with 2399 MB (= 12% max) shown as allocated to system restore it should last about 60 days.

Responding to your question the C:\ partition is 20 GB nominal, with mostly only system files on it - where possible applications are loaded in another partition on the 120 GB HD. Today free space on C:\ is 8.9 GB (Hmmmm . . it was only about 6 GB the other day - that must have been the 2399 MB of restore points that were stored there but, due to some hiccup, System Restore couldn't access).

xmonday

 

My present system restore situation is I have 21 restore points in system volume information folder, the folder is 1.89 GB's, so what's that, about 90 MB each restore point on average.

I've only allowed 3% of my 80 GB C drive for SR, it says 1990 MB allocated, so I'll probably only create one more restore point and then the oldest will have to be deleted to fit in the next one.

You seem to have a good percentage of hard drive free, plenty for system restore to work in, so lets just hope it was a hiccup as you say.