Restore Points Deleted Unawares

[MourningStar]

I recently took my free space to super-low levels for a short duration and then backed-up and deleted files. Soon after I noticed there were no restore points so I quickly created one. Did my machine automatically delete those restore points in order to make room? If so, is there a setting I can enable so that it won't do this again? -thx

 

[Callender]

Hi,

The number of days that restore points are kept before being automatically deleted is the value stored in the registry here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore\RPSessionInterval

This value specifies, in seconds, the restore points Time to Live (TTL). When a restore point reaches this time and it is still on the system, it gets deleted. The default value is (7776000), which will be 90 days.

Aslo try Start > Run then type sysdm.cpl and press Enter

On the system protection tab chose "configure" and make your choices.

Note: I keep system restore disabled. Most experienced users here rely on regular system image backups rather then system restore points.

 

[MourningStar]

thx for reply but I do not understand how this specifically answers my questions. i am not an 'experienced' user, as per your stated criteria. therefore the data/settings in sysdm.cpl should be factory defaults.

 

[Callender]

Well you need to check how much space is reserved for system restore points because if it's not enough space they will be automatically deleted. If you don't want to check then it's your call. Also need to check how much free space is left on each drive.

EDIT: The clue is in your question.

I recently took my free space to super-low levels for a short duration and then backed-up and deleted files. Soon after I noticed there were no restore points

Not enough space means automatic restore point deletion will occur.

Did my machine automatically delete those restore points in order to make room? If so, is there a setting I can enable so that it won't do this again? -thx

No there isn't a setting because restore points require a large amount of disk space.

Also see this about moving shadow copies (system restore points) to a drive with more space. (You can't)

Possible save shadowstorage on a Different drive? - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

[MourningStar]

^
ok - if my understanding of your reply is correct the answer to my first question is 'yes' and the answer to my second question is 'no'.

This is troubling to me that I cannot force my machine to honor restore points. I would rather have a copy or download operation interrupted due to 'insufficient disk space' rather than have my restore points deleted.

thank you

 

[poolmon]

It's not clear exactly what you did to bring your free space down to a minimum, nor exactly what files you deleted, but when you delete System Restore (SR) Files there is normally a warning.

You should set the maximum space SR occupies as stated in the post above (maybe 10% or less depending on your drive size). Thereafter only the oldest SR files should be automatically deleted in excess of that space. If you manually try to delete more through one of WIN 7 utilities such as Disk Cleanup, you should gat a warning.

EDIT: If you have limited disk space (especially on a smaller SSD) you might want to take a look at post #16 at the link below:
Minimum free space on hard drive?

 

[RolandJS]

As good as System Restore Points can be, I recommend also making routine OS and Data partition backups onto external media. I just remembered, I use tweaking.com's Registry Backup a lot also.