I'm just curious. What would be the best settings for System Restore Disk Space Use. In the tutorial here @ B.C. Screen shot shows a setting of Min. and the Read Ahead as Max. Is that the optium settings?

found this for you to read, Scarlett ... Langa List re: winME system restore

Hey Thanks Phawgg! O.K. I just followed the instructions on the Langa List.
I just went from 200 free Mb. or so free disk space to like 600 free Mb. or so.

I did the following last nite.

I de-fraged and ran a complete thorough scan disk.
I deleted several e-mails
Edited registry of keys from uninstalled programs. (Made backup)
Cleaned out all temps. with (CCleaner) which I do often.
Uninstalled a program.

I still should not have this much free space, should I?

Also the info. from the Langa List did not mention if I could keep the settings of System Restore Disk Space to use at Min. It just said to slide down to Min. and then bring back up to Max.
Color me confused.
I wonder how often one should Disable System Restore in order to flush it out?

I have mine set to high. Out of a 27.7gb hd after xp I have 12.5gb free.
Along with other stuff you know. Im a download junky.........

That should please you.

No, it doesn't. You certainly can. Having the choice in the first place implies you can apply an opinion to this.
WinXP & WinME are really not all that different. In winXP, the GUI provides a horizontal slider for min & max. It doesn't say "min" & "max", it states the percentage of your total available space that system restore will reserve for it's exclusive use. Far left is 1%, the minimum, far right is 12%, the maximum. Default setting in winXP is max, and since this is a percentage of HD space, it depends on the size of your HD space how much system restore gets. In the case of a 40GB drive, it wants to take 4,643MB's by default. On matters of principle, I reject it's decision.

• 40GB drive = 38.691GB, really
• 1.63GB with sp2 installed is what the OS (winXP) already takes
• 5,804 MB's are needed to be able to defrag
• 4,643MB's more for system restore?

(You mentioned that you defragged, and cleaned out your temp & temporary internet files. That's always a good move. The OS requires that you reserve a minimum of 15% of your total available HD space in order that it can defrag.)

The consequences of my decision will effect system restore's functionality. It will overwrite restore points when it reaches the limit I made. It also has an option to erase the oldest restore points set so it can set new ones, if it doesn't have space. OK. 200MB's will "last me" 60-90 days worth of points when I am operating "normally". My normal includes 3-4 Spybot scans a week, each of which can/does set a restore point if I let it. Each service pack installation or individual patch will set a restore point. Most every system-wide change will, too. So with every program installation comes the potential for another one. Additionally, system restore will choose to set it's own, based on what criteria i'm not sure, but it is about 3X a week the way I operate.

It doesn't take long before , in winXP, I can choose from any of 37 restore points listed on a calendar that is shown if/when I ask to restore to a previous restore point. When I want to restore, all programs loaded since that date are gone. Any file associations to those programs remain with the files on HD without those programs to operate them. Your preferences set in between "then" & "now" can be reverted to defaults. Registry changes that resulted from all those program installs are not adequately modified in all cases. Display properties can change, as well. You just have to try it and deal with the results, with reversing your decision a possiblity system restore allows. It does not allow selective retaining of system restore points. If you like one, but 23 others are optional in your case, thats too bad. You either reset (disable & enable) the system or you don't. No in-betweens.

All things considered, it is a great feature. You must use it within it's limitations, however. It can effectively help get you out of a jam, but you pay a price for the convenience. It can be considered rather ackward & cumbersome in some ways and wants an inordinate amount of your valuable HD space to work with while denying you that space. A system that has been restored will evidence some inconsistancies between what you expect of it and what you actually get. Many of these annoyances might be reduced with a full understandings of the OS, but Microsoft will give you about a year to figure them out, and then it's time for a New Deal. I can see why you like ME.

phawgg,

Man, I'm impressed.....you know stuff !!!!!

Great post,....... learnt from it.

Thanks

Hope it helped you too Scarlett.

JTH

Knowin' stuff comes with age, JacktheHack. lol So does gray hair, and some I've pulled out tryin' to make peace with my own PC. I still don't know precisely what it was system restore did, while guardin' my drives, that caused me problems when I unplugged one to put in another so I could transfer some files off of. Dang thing made it so the drive wouldn't be recognized. So, just disable it B4 you swap drives to simplfy matters.

Other tales 'ave been told, spun about the site here on occasion, 'bout the funny files it makes and where they are located, and confusion regarding "reinstall files" & "uninstall" files and the system recovery feature which is naturally a horse-of-a-different-color... and quite possibly for version-not-XP...

... much as I might know, I really constantly face that which as don't as an ever present reality but Thanks, anyway.

LOL.......yeah well, I'll be the big 50 next year and as much as I learn, I find I know sweet F/All !!!

So much to learn and so little time.......whish I was just in School again. Boy, what an exciting time to be alive.


Kudos to you !

JTH

It's been my fiftieth year that I'll be sayin g'bye to in less than a week, Jack. You got that to look forward to, my friend. ENJOY!