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Windows Vista Deleting Windows Vista System Restore Points

Discussion in 'Legacy Windows' started by Kevin523, 2007/10/30.

  1. 2007/10/30
    Kevin523

    Kevin523 Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hello all,

    I have an HP Pavilion dv9410us notebook that came preinstalled with Windows Vista Home Premium Edition. I actually like the Windows Vista, so I kept it on my machine.

    Anyway, I know system restore takes up a lot of space on the drive.

    I was looking for a way to disable system restore, to clear all the system restore points, and then re-enabling it to create a new restore point (clearing old points and data).

    Similar to XP where you can disable system restore and it will erase the restore points and all the restore data, but then you can turn system restore back on and create a new point and it will only have the restore data from that point on?

    I tried to disabled system restore in vista but it doesn't erase restore points or the restore data on the drive.

    Can someone advise me on how I can do this?

    Thanks
     
    Kevin523,
    #1
  2. 2007/10/30
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Hi Kevin, Welcome to Windowsbbs. Deleting old system restore points is fairly simple in Windows Vista, but you just have to know what steps to take. ;)

    Try this:
    1. Click Start
    2. In the search box type disk cleanup
    3. The result that comes up should be disk cleanup
    4. Click on the program to run it
    5. It will ask you if you want to cleanup files for all users on this computer or for only your user
    6. Click the option that says you want to cleanup files from all users on this computer
    7. Click continue when the UAC dialog box pops up
    8. Once thats done disk cleanup will begin calculating how much disk space you will be able to free up
    9. When you get a window that comes up with a list of files that you can remove click on the more options tab
    10. Click the delete option where it says you can delete old system restore points then click delete again when it asks for confirmation
    11. Click on the disk cleanup tab again
    12. Check everything that is listed except for hibernation file cleaner
    11. Click ok at the bottom of the disk cleanup window and disk cleanup will start cleaning uneccessary files on your machine

    Thats all there is to it. :) I wanted to be specific so you would know how to do it in the future. Let me know if you were able to delete the old system restore points with success. :cool:
     
    Last edited: 2007/10/30
    Evan Omo,
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  4. 2007/10/30
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    charlesvar,
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  5. 2007/10/30
    Kevin523

    Kevin523 Inactive Thread Starter

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    The directions seem simple enough, I'll try them when I get home.

    I wouldn't have thought to look in the disk cleanup section, as that doesn't quite seem logical to me....

    Anyway, thanks and I'll try it later. :)
     
    Kevin523,
    #4
  6. 2007/10/31
    Kevin523

    Kevin523 Inactive Thread Starter

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    This worked pretty much how I wanted it to. It kept the last restore point but deleted all the rest - freeing up quite a bit of space.

    Now here's my other question - does the Vista System Restore ever become corrupt?

    I've had the experience where if system restore has been up and running for a while with many restore points (in XP) it tends to not restore any point - saying it was unable to complete the restore.

    This is why once in a while I'd turn off system restore in XP clearing all points and re-enabling it to fix this issue and clearing space on my hard drive.

    Does the same problem happen to vista once in a while?

    This is why i was looking for a reset to remove all points and re-create a new one again.

    Perhaps this is not possible?
     
    Kevin523,
    #5
  7. 2007/10/31
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Hi Kevin. I actually haven't had any issues with corrupt system restore points in Windows Vista. But if you are worried about having corrupted restore points then you should create a new restore point manually whenever you want and delete the older ones whenever you see fit. Thats what I end up doing anyway. :) ;)
     
    Evan Omo,
    #6
  8. 2007/10/31
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    Can't answer personally, hasn't happened to me.

    On how to clear all restore points, look at my previous post in this thread.
     
    charlesvar,
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  9. 2007/10/31
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    Hi Evan,

    Doesn't work that way, each restore points is linked together with previous restore points. If any one RP is corrupt in that chain, the latest one is also.
     
    charlesvar,
    #8
  10. 2007/11/01
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Hi Charles. Luckely for me I haven't had any restore points become corrupted on my Vista system. :) But I'm assuming if one does become corrupted then you would have to clear all of the restore points and create a new one manually so that system restore works again. :rolleyes: System Restore has saved my machine in the past but hopefully they won't get corrupted in the future. :p
     
    Evan Omo,
    #9
  11. 2007/11/01
    Kevin523

    Kevin523 Inactive Thread Starter

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    I figured that all the restore points are linked, because when one becomes corrupt, all of them are. (At least from my experience in Windows XP).

    So is there a way to flush ALL restore points and data and create a new point (as in starting over fresh by resetting Restore?).
     
    Kevin523,
    #10
  12. 2007/11/01
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Evan Omo,
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