System restore and image filling hard drive

[mosk]

Hi. I have 2 1.5 TB internal hard drives for a Windows 7, 64 bit Pro system.

My second hard drive keeps getting filled up by huge (200-400 GB) files that are apparently generated by System Restore and System Image.

I'd like to keep the System Restore functionality, but is there a way to limit the size of this to something reasonable? (say less than 50 GB)

Currently have a 400 GB System Image file with .vhd extension. Is it safe to simply delete that? And can I limit the size of these files as well or simply prevent them from being generated?

Thanks

 

[Bill2]

You can reduce disk space taken up by system restore and also clean up old points.

Make System Restore Use Less Drive Space in Windows 7 - How-To Geek

As for the backup image, just delete the folder WindowsImageBackup, it will deletes all existing images. Next time you create an image, it'll be recreated. You can also save images externally.

 

[mosk]

Bill2 -

Thanks for the response and for the link. Very helpful!

 

[sreedhav]

Dear Mosk,
which backup and restore utility are you using? To keep things simple, backups can be divided into 1)Partition Backups,2)Disk backups and 3) Cloning.

If you have a large collection of .mp3 songs, to which you are adding new ones, just buy dual-layer DVD-RWs which have a storage capacity of 8.5 GB (Moserbaer) and download the old ones into those disks and make it a point to mark ,which songs,singers and/or albums are stored in which DVD-RW. Whenever you feel like listening to them, pop the DVD into the slot and enjoy! The same goes for DivX and MP4/AVI movies! Taking backups of the same songs and movies and for that matter even FILES over and over again may be gobbling up your valuable disk space!

I have been a dedicated believer in B & R like you and i like you for the maturity to take backups! I use the free version of Macrium-reflect, which i can vouch safe is one of the easiest programs i have used. Next comes the Easeus family!

I believed in partition backups since 1994 and especially the backup of "C Drive" is totally vital! Each backup takes 30 gb of space (MAX) and as in the previous reply you can slowly remove the older ones safely and you get breathing space! The website of Macrium reflect : Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

Regards,
DR.Sreedhav

 

[mosk]

Hey sreedhav -

I just use the backup and restore utilities that came wiht Windows 7 Pro.

Don't have ton of mp3s but I am working on 3d animations, and those videos take lots of room until I compress them to flv or f4v - but that's what not's chewing up all my space. It's the system restore and system image.

Fixed for the moment with advice from above.

Checked out the two programs you mentioned - Macrium and Easeus - both look very worthwhile. Any reason you favored one over the other?

Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

Why is your backup 400gb? Is this multiple incremental image backups, or is it including all of your other drives in the image. You might want to include only your System and OS drives.

The WIn7 file backup utility can also waste a lot of space. Ask yourself if it wouldnt' be easier to periodically drag your Active user folders to the backup drive.

 

[mosk]

No idea how it got to be 400GB - I just noticed one day about a month ago that my 1.5 TB secondary hard drive was practically full even though it only had about 200GB of my content on it.

Did some poking about on the net and found out that system restore and system image files were the culprit (taking roughly 200GB and 400GB respectively)

I now have my C drive configured to Restore System settings and previous versions of files and Disk space usage set at 4% (55GB) and I have backup shut off for my secondary E drive.

Under Manage Windows Backup disk space, I only have two options via radio buttons -
Let Windows manage the space for backup history (Max 419 GB) or
Keep only latest system image and minimize space used by backup.

Something in between those would seem better but W7 doesn't give an option to set that.

About dragging my users folder to backup on another drive, would that allow me to restore programs easily or just let me save my documents?

Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

That's the method I use for file backup on our home computers (monthly dragging the active User folders to external over network).

To restore programs you need to use an image, of course, so for that I save in a folder a baseline image from right after install and setup which would replace a clean reinstall, then I also manually backup one newer image periodically.

Since I only use the manual method, someone with more experience setting up the Windows Backup will need to advise you how to trim it's fat, but all I've ever been able to get out of it or 3rd party apps is a ton of wasted disk space.

 

[mosk]

Ok. I have lots of software and I'd hate to have to reinstall everything, so sounds like your setup is pretty ideal. I guess what I need is one 'old/stable' system image of my C drive stored on my E:drive, and then a second system image which I update every month or so (or after installing major new programs). (Obviously need to backup my data/ / documents as well)

Can anyone explain how to do that wiht the built in Windows 7 Pro functionality, or do I need to use one of the free 3rd party programs mentioned in an earlier post (Macrium or Easeus) to accomplish that?

Thanks.

 

[whs]

If you want my advice, get off this terrible Windows7 imaging - nothing but headaches. Make your lfe easy and use this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

 

[theog]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html?ltr=S
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/648-restore-backup-user-system-files.html

 

[gregrocker]

I would also rely on System Restore to roll back less destructively than reimaging. I configure System Protection to use up to 20% of HD for Restore points so they last longer.

We're able to help save good installs here almost daily by using System Restore from booted DVD.

 

[mosk]

I took a quick glance at Macrium and Easeus earlier. Wasn't sure if you could specify individual folders to backup with Macrium so for that reason alone was thinking about trying Easeus - but that was just a quick glance and I could certainly be wrong. Does Macrium (free version) let you backup individual directories / folders as well as the system image stuff? Any insights about Macrium vs Easeus?

Thanks

 

[whs]

Does Macrium (free version) let you backup individual directories / folders as well as the system image stuff?

No, it is always per partition. It is an imaging program, not a file backup program. I put all my data into a seperate Data Partition and back this up as required.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I took a quick glance at Macrium and Easeus earlier. Wasn't sure if you could specify individual folders to backup with Macrium so for that reason alone was thinking about trying Easeus - but that was just a quick glance and I could certainly be wrong. Does Macrium (free version) let you backup individual directories / folders as well as the system image stuff? Any insights about Macrium vs Easeus?

Thanks

As far as I know, none of the imaging programs can exclude folders when making an image--it's all of a partition or none of it.

Some imaging programs will allow you to recover just certain files folders rather than the entire partition.

I wouldn't rely on images for personal data backup at any rate.