Regarding the posts in this thread about Free Space Allocation on Vista machine Hard Drives;
I have put together a 'Help Sheet' gleaned over time, I find it has been useful to some folk
who are constantly monitoring their 'Free Space'
By setting a Max size to the 'Shadow Storage and System Restore file, and then clearing out all the old restore points except
the last new one will give you a truer reading of space free.
Some or all of the elements may be of use,
Please note although these items work on 'My machine' I cannot guarantee they will work on others, use is at own risk.
Instructions to Control Vista Used Space problems
Using the CMD prompt in 'Administrator Mode'.
1 Open Cmd Prompt as Administrator.
2.Type in vssadmin(sp)list(sp)shadowstorage Enter. NB!...(sp) Space
3.Note Sizes. (If excessively above 5GB use formula below)
To resize Shadow Storage and System Restore Space.
1 Type in....
vssadmin(sp)resize(sp)shadowstorage(sp)/on=C(sp)/for=C(sp)/maxsize=5GB
Enter. NB!...(sp) Space
Start...Programs...Accessories...System Tools...SystemRestore...Open
Disable System Restore. Close Reboot PC
After Rebooting....back into System Restore...Enable System Restore...OK Close
Reboot.
Then...
Create a new System Restore point.
Click Start Menu > Run > type... (or copy and paste)
%SystemRoot%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe (Note No spaces.)
Press OK. Choose Create a Restore Point then click Next. Name it and click Create, when the confirmation screen shows the restore point has been created click Close.
Next go to Start Menu > Run > type...
cleanmgr
Click OK, Disk Cleanup will open and start calculating the amount of space that can be freed, Once that's finished it will open the Disk Cleanup options screen, click the More Options tab then click Clean up on the system restore area and choose Yes at the confirmation window which will remove all the restore points except the one just created.
To close Disk Cleanup and remove the Temporary Internet Files detected in the initial scan click OK then choose Yes on the confirmation window.
Regards
