System Volume Information on an external hard drive

[Senator]

I have an external hard drive where I keep things like drive images, backup files (CrashPlan), offline data, etc.

I'm beginning to get concerned about available space. I ran a report using an application called TreeSize and noticed that I have a considerable amount of space being consumed by System Volume Information, which I understand are Restore Points.



But I also have the same folder on my Drive C, so do I really need the information contained on the external HDD? I know I will not be able to delete the folder. If I do, Windows will automatically replace it. But do I need to keep this restore point information on the external HDD?

Cheers

 

[LMiller7]

There will be a "System Volume Information" folder on each drive for which system protection is enabled. It will contain data relevant only to that drive.

 

[Senator]

OK then. Sounds like I should just leave it be.

 

[ComputerGeek]

I have an external hard drive where I keep things like drive images, backup files (CrashPlan), offline data, etc

Since that drive is just for offline and backup data (no system settings or files. No active databases, etc.) I don't see a reason to have System Protection enabled for that drive. I'd turn it off for that drive only and recover that 46GB for your own use

 

[Senator]

Well, there seems to be a difference of opinion. I have searched other forums and can't seem to find a clear answer.

Do I need to enable System Protection for an external HDD? If so, why? If not, why not?

 

[mjf]

Do I need to enable System Protection for an external HDD?

I do not rely on restore points and have system protection turned off. I certainly rely on backups of various types especially system images to external HDDs and turning off system protection hasn't caused me problems.

 

[ComputerGeek]

MS wrote the following Understanding System Restore about XP but it's still true

What's changed since XP?
MS saves even more info in system restore about regsitry settings, system state, system, driver and program files, etc. To help System Restore to a prior machine state

What's not changed?
MS doesn't do anything that affects your personal data. Nor does it save any of your personal data in restore points. So if your external drive is all personal data and offline backups (no program data, driver files, Windows files and settings, etc.) IMHO System Restore has no value if enabled for that drive

 

[LMiller7]

System restore does not effect user files. You wouldn't like it if it did.

Imagine what it would be like if that were the case:

You have a number of important files you have been working on when your computer develops a minor but annoying problem. You decide to do a system restore to a week ago. Problem solved. But then you find that all of your personal files you have been working on have reverted back to the state they were in a week ago. A weeks work lost.

Remember that System Restore restores the system files and portions of the registry to what they were at the time the restore point was created. Good for system files, but very bad for personal files.

 

[Senator]

I do not rely on restore points and have system protection turned off.

That's a very interesting perspective, especially from a seasoned veteran such as yourself. Personally, restore points have helped me recover from several incidents, such as a new application install gone bad or from changing a system setting that I shouldn't have. So I'm in favor of Restore Points and in fact use the Task Scheduler to create a daily Restore Point for just that reason.

However, I don't understand the significance of System Volume Information, System Protection or Restore Points when it comes to an external HDD.

 

[pbcopter]

There is one aspect of System Protection that has not been mentioned and that is the storage of previous versions of files (Shadow Copies), including data files. If System protection is enabled, copies of previous versions files are maintained along with the restore points and can be retrieved by selecting file properties/previous version.

 

[ComputerGeek]

There is one aspect of System Protection that has not been mentioned and that is the storage of previous versions of files (Shadow Copies), including data files. If System protection is enabled, copies of previous versions files are maintained along with the restore points and can be retrieved by selecting file properties/previous version.

That's a very good point I overlooked as i don't use System Protection for that purpose.

I keep System Protection turned off on external drives as I prefer doing my own Disk and file/folder backups where needed. I'd rather use the extra space Sys Volume info takes up on my data or backup drives as my own backup space.

 

[mjf]

That's a very interesting perspective, especially from a seasoned veteran such as yourself. Personally, restore points have helped me recover from several incidents, such as a new application install gone bad or from changing a system setting that I shouldn't have. So I'm in favor of Restore Points and in fact use the Task Scheduler to create a daily Restore Point for just that reason.

Hello Senator,
It really is a personal choice on how reliant you want to be on restore points. Some (many?) feel restore points are useful like yourself and that's why I guess they were designed into the OS.
Restore points may not always give you a clean recovery as I have found out so I lost confidence in them. Regular system images will always get you out of trouble except perhaps for a motherboard failure.
There used to be some claimed advantage in not using restore points with SSDs (space saving and limiting number of writes) but this may be debatable now.

So: You don't need to use restore points if you don't want to and I firmly believe system images are a more robust recovery mechanism.

 

[LMiller7]

The System Protection provided by the system really isn't much of a backup. The file copies remain on the same drive so if it fails you will lose everything. User configured backups to an external drive provide many more options with greater security.

But System protection has one big advantage - it works right out of the box with no extra hardware and no configuration required. And for many people it is the only backup they will ever have.

 

[Layback Bear]

Why not use both.
Restore points and a backup. They were never designed to replace each other.