Deleting Restore points

[mr don]

I noticed with CCleaner, even after deleting restore points using CCleaner, it seems that there is no free space released from doing so. Restore points seem gone, but space is the same.

 

Any way to make it delete them & recover space? When you use MS restore point control (turn it off, then back on again), the restore points are gone & several gigs of space become free again.

 

I would love to be able to see my free space come back from used restore points. Anyone else feel the same way?

[kroozer]

I noticed with CCleaner, even after deleting restore points using CCleaner, it seems that there is no free space released from doing so. Restore points seem gone, but space is the same. . . . . .

I would love to be able to see my free space come back from used restore points. Anyone else feel the same way?

Mine does. When I delete a point using CC I gain ca. 2 GB space. Vista points are massive.

[mr don]

Mine does. When I delete a point using CC I gain ca. 2 GB space. Vista points are massive.

I will test again. Perhaps it was a glitch.

 

I will let you know what happens.

[Aethec]

XP restore points are small (and nearly useless). Vista/7 restore points, as kroozer said, are massive and useful.

[mr don]

XP restore points are small (and nearly useless). Vista/7 restore points, as kroozer said, are massive and useful.

Aeth, XP restore, however, has saved my hide in numerous occasions.

 

Don't knock it till you tried it.

 

Sure, Vista may have more bigger ones with more better restores, but who needs that?

[metalj]

Note: CCleaner removes references to the System Restore points, but may not actually remove all files related to each point.

http://docs.piriform.com/ccleaner/using-ccleaner/removing-system-restore-points (at the bottom)

 

It really pisses me off that Piriform allows people to mess up their restore points like this.

 

Use Windows' "DiskCleanup" instead.

 

Oh, and, +1 for your suggestion.

[Alan_B]

http://docs.piriform.com/ccleaner/using-ccleaner/removing-system-restore-points (at the bottom)

 

It really pisses me off that Piriform allows people to mess up their restore points like this.

 

Use Windows' "DiskCleanup" instead.

 

Oh, and, +1 for your suggestion.

 

No point grumbling about the files that are not removed because :-

 

A new Restore Point starts life with a SNAPSHOT of the registry hives as at that time;

whilst it is active it receives copies of "system files" as they are changed/deleted,

and these provide an "audit trail" from the current system state to how it was when the R.P. started.

 

The "audit trail" in one R.P. is a continuation of the audit trail in the previous R.P.

 

CCleaner allows removal of the registry hive SNAPSHOT within a R.P.,

because each snapshot is self-contained and independent,

and removal will not affect ability to restore an earlier R.P.

 

If CCleaner removed the "audit trail" segment when deleting the snapshot in the chosen R.P.

that would break the audit trail and any attempt to restore to an earlier date would fail.

 

Alan

[metalj]

@Alan

 

What really bothers me is that people think they are gaining space

from deleting RPs through CCleaner and they are not (not much).

 

And also, DiskCleanup can properly delete the RPs, and also a few 3rd parties (like Tuneup Utilities)

so I think that Piriform hasn't done their home work yet.

[Alan_B]

I have no use for this feature myself.

I only investigated and tested it because I did not believe it could work.

Happy to say it works very well.

 

I still do not use it.

I periodically use Disk Cleanup to purge all the old R.P.,

and depend upon restoring a disc image should disaster strike.

 

One big disadvantage for many people is the monster waste of time when Disk Cleanup trawls through the whole system so it can tell you how much space will be saved if it compresses old files.

Ever since Windows compressed an old file and Windows File Protection demanded a Windows Installation Disc,

(which was never supplied - Windows pre-installed), I have never again compressed.

 

I finally found a "hack" that removed the compress option and avoids that delay.

If any one else needs that hack, the answer is out there on Google - sorry I cannot remember more.

 

 

But, as "devil's advocate" :-

 

I doubt that even Tuneup Utilities is likely to remove the entire contents of a R.P. and leave a viable system that allows you to restore to a point in time that preceded the creation of that removed R.P.

That R.P. WAS the only repository for copies of files that were deleted whilst the R.P. was active.

Without that R.P. then any attempt to go back will not fully restore all the files and folders as they were.

 

On XP typically each of my R.P. is 57 MB, of which only 2 MB is the residue after CCleaner "removes" the R.P.

Typically CCleaner is 96% effective at cleaning down to the bone.

 

I do however have perhaps 100 MB of residue from the odd R.P. that has lived through monster security updates.

With that in mind, on average CCleaner is 90% effective at cleaning down to the bone.

 

I am convinced that Piriform has done its homework,

and to clean any further would prevent use of earlier R.P.

 

It would however be an enhancement if there was an option to completely eliminate the chosen R.P.,

AND additionally erased all the earlier R.P. which depended upon the audit trail of the chosen R.P.

 

 

Alan

[Armoured]

I also believe Piriform is doing the correct thing when removing restore points, as they are rather touchy things - especially in XP.

 

If people want to clean restore points in xp, best way is to turn it off, turn it on again - deleting them all. (a simple script can automate this)

[ident]

 

If people want to clean restore points in xp, best way is to turn it off, turn it on again - deleting them all. (a simple script can automate this)

 

Script? What's a script....?

 

I know, You know but other users may not. It's best when posting a suggestion like that to post up a reputable script that you have used or know of. And explain what it is/Does.

[Willy2]

Today I came across a very peculiar way of wiping System Restore Points (SRP). (Are you reading this ""mr. don"" ???). I ran CC with the option ""Wipe Free Space"" selected and I had four SRPs on this drive. As all regular visitors of the Piriforum know by now, this WFS option writes bogus information onto a drive until the disk is full and then the CC deletes those files. Presto, the free drivespace is ""cleaned"". But I discovered that Windows XP seem to have noticed that the drive was running out of space and then simply deleted those four SRPs. The four SRPs were gone !

 

Does anyone else had the same/a similar experience with the ""Wipe Free Space"" option ? Did Windows XP go nuts ?

 

I know now one thing for sure: I won't use WFS any more or only on very rare occasions.

[kroozer]

But I discovered that Windows XP seem to have noticed that the drive was running out of space and then simply deleted those four SRPs. The four SRPs were gone !

Does anyone else had the same/a similar experience with the ""Wipe Free Space"" option ? Did Windows XP go nuts ?

I know now one thing for sure: I won't use WFS any more or only on very rare occasions.

I have used WFS only a few times on my Vista. It wiped all my Points the last time I used it.

[mr don]

I would consider it a feature, to wipe the restore points while cleaning, however. If you are going to erase evidence, RP's have plenty of evidence to hide, so removing those will take care of windows storing earlier versions of trash you wanted to be rid of!

 

However, the restore point control could add a simple way to remove all RP's, in my opinion, then restart the RP process & generate a totally new & clean one!

Also, while on some systems there may be no use to you in deleting a few restore points, I HAVE seen computers that had a lot, lot, lot of restore points. The bigger the drive, the more space is allocated by default for restore point controls, since it goes by percent. 12% is allocated by default, no matter how large or small a drive is. What is 12% of a 1,000 GB drive? Yes, that is 120 GB!

 

I have seen comps with many, many, many gigs of restore points that were not cleaned in months, & months! I have also seen a computer that had so much internet & temporary file trash that it was nearly full. Cleaning the drive with CCleaner caused it to go from less than 100 MB free to over 10 GB free!

 

Yes, these features that you think are nearly worthless, ha, but I have seen really messed up computers that have been abused, & through hell. I work on a lot of them, so I have seen well, things that are mind boggling.