BleepingComputer.com: rrestore files

I am running XP home SP1 with all of the current critical updates installed. The machine is a laptop with 1gz processor and 20 gb hd.

After running Nortons speed disk, it shows that I have 24% framentaion. Most of the fragments are in the system restore files. I know how important they can be.

My question is: How can I delete the old files and then prevent new files from being so fragmented?

Thank you

Hang in there max! I liked your question so much I am making it into a tutorial

Ill let you know when it is finished, which should be soon.

Hi max. Good to see you over here at BC.

I'm not familiar with Norton't Speed Disk, but I get similar results with the native defragmenter & now Diskeeper Lite. So I'll be interested to see what Grinler comes up with in the tutorial.

But to address your concern about System Restore files being fragmented, I really don't think it's much to worry about. Even with a long list of SysRestore files in my defrag reports, I've never had a problem with SysRestore functioning properly.

I may be wrong about this, but I think it's not the individual restore files themselves that are fragmented, but the restore folder. Since restore files by default are created every day and other files are added every day (mostly Temporary Internet Files), the restore files aren't contiguous on the disk. They're mixed in with those other files. That's my guess.

Don't know what you can do to keep the fragmentation from happening. Maybe defrag every day. It's funny. Diskeeper recommends that you defrag every day. Course they want you to upgrade to the full version so you can "Set it & forget it". This in contrast to the native defragger (also designed by Executive Software) that waits too long to recommend that you defrag.

Just FYI, while you're waiting on Grinler's tutorial, there are two ways that I know of to delete Restore files. You can delete all SysRestore files by turning it off then turning it back on again. Or you can delete all but the most recent Restore Point by going into Disk Cleanup. How is covered in MS's System Restore FAQ's.

What I've wondered about is if there is any way to pick & chose certain restore points to delete. These are protected system files so I don't think it can be done. Maybe in safe mode? Perhaps Grinler will look into that too.

Ack and I thought I would just have a simple tutorial, here you go throwing more things in

I am going to break this question up into two tutorials. One on defragmenting and one on system restore.

It is taking me a little longer than I would have liked, so I will try to answer anything that Papa already hasnt.

When it comes down to it Norton Speeddisk is just like any other defragger, but it does give a great deal of detailed information about what is fragmented.

Just because the system restore files are fragmented is no reason to delete the files. Generally fragmentation only causes a problem for loading programs and data, and that problem would just be a slow down. Static data such as a system restore that is not used often or does not cause slow downs should not be a problem fragmented.

24% fragmentation though is high and you should defrag your drive. This could take a while, so it is recommended you do it when you go to sleep, as there should be no reason for you to be up while it runs. After the defrag, the whiles will not be as fragmented as they were previously as speeddisk will try to arrange the data into contiguous spaces.

As Papakid said you can delete system restore files, just by turning it off in My Computer and turning it back on will wipe em out and start system restore again.
There will be other ways, such as disk cleanup, that i will go over in the tutorial.

As for preventing it in the future there really is no way. File systems such as NTFS handle fragmentation better, but still have the same issues. Upgrading to that filesystem type may help you.

Overall though, there is nothing you can do, and you should do a defrag at least once a month. Everyday is way overboard.

Wow that was quick!

The Importance of Disk Defragmentation

Good job Grinler!

I did see one glaring typo that needs to be fixed (sorry but I just have an eye for these things).

Quote

And this comment: It's been my experience, running XP Home on NTSF, I've never had to wait as long as an hour for defrag to complete. I think the first time it took like 30 minutes. Since then I defrag about once a month & it usually takes about 10-15 minutes. And I don't disable AV's or anything & it runs fine. I've heard that this only holds true for XP, or maybe just some installations of XP. And even then, if you go a long time without defragging, it's going to take longer.

Win9x for sure needs to disable background processes, including (& this is what catches a lot of people off guard) the screensaver. I've also heard it recommended that defrag be run in safe mode so that all those processes don't have to be turned on & off. I.E., it's quicker that way.

OK, I'm ducking now. Couldn't help throwing that in.

As usual, found the rest of the tutorial interesting & informative, especially the section about other OS's like Apple & their recommendations on fragmentaion.

Thanks for the typo ! Its fixed now.

I just ran defrag on my ntfs partition last night and it took about 6 hours. Granted i was at 37% fragmentation

I will look into your comments and add them to the tutorial. Thanks for pointing them out.

I just finished putting upa very detail tutorial on System Restore. You can find it here

Windows XP System Restore Guide

Please let me know about typos...im tired and i hate them, but im bound to have em.

Thanks papa and Grinler. I deleted all but the last restore point using disk cleanup. I then defragged my hd. It took a little over an hour to defrag. I now have a resonable looking disk. 0.3% frag. They old system sure runs better.

Thanks for the great tutorials. I made a career out of computers, but my focus was unix. I only used windows to allow me access to multiple machines. Now that I am retired, my life is windows based. I am struggling to get up to speed.

Evan

maxheadroom, on Apr 15 2004, 09:58 AM, said:

Evan Why? If you have Unix experience why would you want to get up to speed on MS? Just to do it?

I am thinking about going to some flavor of Unix as everyone says how great it is. So would appreciate your feed back.

Hi Bluie

I am interested in windows, because that is all that I have now. I only have a laptop and from what I have read Linux does not work well on laptops.

UNIX is a great OS. I would love to have a machine that ran UNIX. It is much more flexible than windows. In the past UNIX has been aimed at large computers. It took tons of HD and RAM to operate. Now days that is not really a problem. In the past every UNIX was different and not easily transportable. Linux has changed that. The company I used to work for, is thinking about changing to Linux.

When I get my desktop machine fixed, I will be putting Linux on that machine. When they get Linux set up to work with laptop architecture, I will be switching that machine as well.

Check out the experts board at myway.com myway tech boards
There are some discussions there from Linux users. Do a search of the boards and look for linux. I found a lot of discussions there.

Evan

Thanx Evan the MYWAY boards are just too much trouble. Not quite ready to take the plunge but will definitely keep you in mind when more information is needed.