System restore Points--Auto deletion?

Hi,
I recently formated and reloaded Win 7 64 bit from the OS DVD which came with my Dell E6420 laptop.
A few hours back when I went to CP--Recovery I noticed a number of restore points during the various stages of Win 7 updates. Just on the run, I created a new restore point, just incase.
Now, when I go to Control Panel---Recovery, I noticed that only my last restore point is visible. All previous restire points seem to have been deleted automatically by the system. Any reason why this happenned?
Yes, before creating the recent restore point, I ensured that all my partitions are included, which was not the case before. Before only C drive was having system protection " ON".
Is there some way that I can ask the system to check before it deletes the older restore points?
Does win 7 OS has an inbuilt trigger for the same?
Sorry for such a long post.

Thhanks Bare Foot Kid.

I belong to the older brigade and am thus not much familiar with " Image to Restore".

Can you pl. guide me to an tutorial which explains what is an image and how do you restore it and when and why.

Sorry, but I would really like to learn, so that next time my laptop crashes, I have less pain in restoring my valuable data and dont have to fiddle with the settings.

Thanks Richc46 the links were very educational and helpful.

Can we loadup a program or something which prevents the restore pts from being deleted unless the drive is getting full to its max limits.

A system image is basically a snapshot of your entire hard drive. It includes the operating system, all of your personal settings, documents, folders, videos, music, photos, pretty much everything. If you have a problem with your computer (a virus, a program you installed crashes everything, etc) you can restore your computer back to that system image and your computer will be exactly as it was when the image was created. If the image is a week old, that's how your computer will be and you'd have to update your antivirus, Windows Updates, etc.

In most cases, you'd want to store your system image on an external hard drive. If you ever needed to replace your computer's internal hard drive, you'd be able to use that system image on the new (replacement) hard drive. And instead of spending hours, or even days, trying to reconfigure everything the way it was, a system image can get you up and running in about 30 minutes or less.

How to Create a System Image in Windows 7 - How-To Geek

If you use the built in Windows 7 imaging tool you'll also be given an opportunity to create a separate companion repair disc. If your computer won't even boot to the operating system you can use the repair disc to access various repair options as well as restoring to the system image.

Thanks Marsmimar.

When i have tried to use win7 builtin image utility, it takes too long and gives me an error message.

I also read that it is not the best and has some issues. though honestly after formatting and reloading win 7 this time, i have not tried the same.

Also, as I understand it system Image is different from data back up.

I mean that i create a system image at start when the system is new and I have loaded all my programs. And to keep my data safe, i need to take a backup say every week or so.

But as i go on, i would tend to install some programs and unless i retake a system image i will loose these newly installed programs incase of system crash.

I also have some qs about the Macrium reflect software.

After the 1st image, then should i take incremental or differential backups?
Also, to restire, woudl I need the 1st image and all the incremental/differential backup points or only the 1st and the latest?