Is system restore really not a good idea?

I have been having problems copyin g files to a central windows 7 machine since I upgraded it from XP. I could copy multiple files from a windows 7 client to the XP machine and the Win 7 machines would still be responsive.

But since upgrading the XP to 7 copying two or more large files to the central 7 machine causes the client to become unstable and unresponsive until the copy completes, which could be hours depending on the size of the files being copied as the transfer rates drop as low as 320KBps over a gigabit LAN.

So I was wandering around the net trying to find a solution, one of which was to disable Remote Differential Compression, and I came accross this ...

(2) System Recovery.Windows 7 installs (on a clean install) with System Recovery (System Restore) turned on. I recommend that you turn it off. In my opinion, 99% of system failures and failure to boot correctly are due to Registry entries that are either corrupt, or incorrect. Therefore, the fastest and easiest way to “go back” to a good system is to be able to choose to restore a recent registry backup and reboot. The best way I know to do this is with a utility called ERUNT, from Lars Hederer. This works on every version of Windows, both 32 bit and 64 bit. Download this, install it, accept the defaults, and it will enter a Startup folder batch file that will back up your Registry for that day when you boot up. To restore a previous registry, just go to C:\Windows\ERUNT\Autobackup\ , choose the date you want, and in that folder, execute the ERDNT.EXE file. Your Registry from that day will be restored, you reboot, and you’re done. If your machine won't boot at all, hold down the F8 key and choose Safe mode, and you can do the same Registry restore. If you don't do any of the other tweaks in this article, please do this one. I can virtually guarantee that you will thank me at some point in the future!

Disable system restore? Is this really good advice? I've used System restore hundreds of times and it has saved me every one of those times.

I'm interested in people's opinions on the above advice.

thanks
Tanya

I'd also agree that System Restore should not be disabled. I'd also suggest that you get in the habit of making a full system image, storing it on an external hard drive, and updating it perhaps once a week. When all else fails that system image can get you up and running in 30 minutes or less.

marsmimar said:

I'd also agree that System Restore should not be disabled. I'd also suggest that you get in the habit of making a full system image, storing it on an external hard drive, and updating it perhaps once a week. When all else fails that system image can get you up and running in 30 minutes or less.

Thanks. I wasn't planning on disabling system restore. I think the authors advice is not good advice, and I won't use any of the tips from his web site, except the remote differential compression.

I wasn't suggesting that disabling system restore would help solve my file copy problem, I was just wondering if the author was giving good advice, which by concensus he wasn't.

I have S/R turned on. I have shrunk the space so that I get around a maximum of 8-10 restorepoints, and I have it turned on for more than one drive, since I split operating system and applications across multiple drives.

when I get my system to a stable point I take a system image (which is stored on a remote USB drive), and that only changes when I make considerable changes to my system that I feel is now stable. So I think I'm inline with peoples advice. thanks

As an aside, What seems to have solved the file copy speed was the netsh global parameter changes and the remote differential compression. Copy speed went from 8MBps to 111MBps using a 4GB file as a test.

pparks1 said:

I never suggest to anybody to disable system restore. On a small SSD, I might suggest decreasing the space it can consume, but I would not turn it off.

Hi,

I have only just got my laptop up and running with 2 drives - an ssd for Windows and a separate normal hard drive for my date. But I notice there has been gigabytes going missing on the ssd. Would decreasing the space system restore consumes help with this?

If so, can you tell me how I would go about doing it? Also, any other tips for why my hard drive space is disappearing, even thought I have only installed a few tiny programs?

Cheers

RedLad said:

pparks1 said:

I never suggest to anybody to disable system restore. On a small SSD, I might suggest decreasing the space it can consume, but I would not turn it off.

Hi,

I have only just got my laptop up and running with 2 drives - an ssd for Windows and a separate normal hard drive for my date. But I notice there has been gigabytes going missing on the ssd. Would decreasing the space system restore consumes help with this?

If so, can you tell me how I would go about doing it? Also, any other tips for why my hard drive space is disappearing, even thought I have only installed a few tiny programs?

Cheers

You can control how much space is devoted to System Restore at:

Control panel/system/advanced system settings/system protection tab/configure.

Move the slider you see to however many GB you want to allot to System Restore. 5 may be enough for 8 or 10 restore points.

You can also eliminate hibernation if you don't use it; that will save space equal to the amount of installed RAM.

To turn it off; go to an elevated command prompt and enter:

powercfg -h off

You could also move your page file to your regular hard drive.

You can also download Tree Size Free to see where space is being used on any hard drive from here:

http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/