Delete File? (WinXP)

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I have a lot of files like this:”C:System Volume Information_restore{00BB1BE2-9B56-4E39-96F3-B4F621BD328C}RP45snapshot_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM”.
Can I delete any of them and what do they represent?
Eli

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The System Volume Information folder contains the information of the System Restore Points. I would leave this folder alone, you never know when you will need to do a system restore.

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Thank you for the information and help.
Eli

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Thank you for the information and help.
Eli

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You may be aware that you can control the maximum size occupied by the System Volume Information / System Restore folders as a percentage of your total hard disk size by Start => Control Panel => System. Selecting the System Restore tab, then change the “Disk Space to Use” slider.

On my box, at least, the maximum is 12% of the total disk space. Looking at the folder with Windows Explorer shows that the RPnnn folders date back about a month, and there seems to be one created (automatically) each day. (You probably have to have selected “View hidden folders” to be able to do this).

I think it highly unlikely that you would want/need to restore back to a point a month ago, though! Problems are usually evident more rapidly than that.
As always, your kilometerage may vary!

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Thank you for “the workaround”. I’ll do the slider bit and delete the restore points that are more than a month old. They’re impossible to defrag and combined, hog a lot of my HD.
Eli

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John makes a good suggestion, because System Restore is a Disk Hog of sorts, and has the potential to beat out Recycle Bin, the paging file, temporary internet files, possibly temporary files, and the hibernation file at hoggery. It takes 12% of every drive as a default, and if that drive’s data, then turn it off and recoup that space. If a drive is smaller than 4GB then it takes up 400MB. I would only use what you think seems reasonable on your system drive and drives with programs. I know people who brag they keep it off, true it won’t always work or restore points can get corrupted even when you didn’t turn it off, but when you really need it and it works, then you’re glad to have it. It can be an easy way to get up to Windows when you’ve crashed out and are faced with a BSOD that won’t let you up by running it from Safe Mode’s Command prompt.

SMBP

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You’re right about it being a space hog. I just deleted the RPs older than a month and what’s left is 1 1/2 gig in size. It’s amazing.

Thank you for getting back to me with your comments – they’re appreciated.

Eli

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From what I’ve learned in the lounge about different potential space hogs, there are a number of them that aren’t showcased in the usual XP books or web sites–in Windows in general whateever the OS–with enormous capacity to take space insidiously–one even can adds literally thousands of files as an artifact–and you don’t know they’re doing it so they just grow and grow. There’s an article in this subject for a site or a magazine.

I’ve been in the position loading program after program I want to try where 1.5GB can come in awfully handy.

SMBP

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From what I’ve learned in the lounge about different potential space hogs, there are a number of them that aren’t showcased in the usual XP books or web sites–in Windows in general whateever the OS–with enormous capacity to take space insidiously–one even can adds literally thousands of files as an artifact–and you don’t know they’re doing it so they just grow and grow. There’s an article in this subject for a site or a magazine.

I’ve been in the position loading program after program I want to try where 1.5GB can come in awfully handy.

SMBP

Reply | Quote

You’re right about it being a space hog. I just deleted the RPs older than a month and what’s left is 1 1/2 gig in size. It’s amazing.

Thank you for getting back to me with your comments – they’re appreciated.

Eli

Reply | Quote

John makes a good suggestion, because System Restore is a Disk Hog of sorts, and has the potential to beat out Recycle Bin, the paging file, temporary internet files, possibly temporary files, and the hibernation file at hoggery. It takes 12% of every drive as a default, and if that drive’s data, then turn it off and recoup that space. If a drive is smaller than 4GB then it takes up 400MB. I would only use what you think seems reasonable on your system drive and drives with programs. I know people who brag they keep it off, true it won’t always work or restore points can get corrupted even when you didn’t turn it off, but when you really need it and it works, then you’re glad to have it. It can be an easy way to get up to Windows when you’ve crashed out and are faced with a BSOD that won’t let you up by running it from Safe Mode’s Command prompt.

SMBP

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Thank you for “the workaround”. I’ll do the slider bit and delete the restore points that are more than a month old. They’re impossible to defrag and combined, hog a lot of my HD.
Eli

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System Restore in XP, 2000, and possibly NT defaults back to 90 days with the slider at max of 12% a figure somehow chosen by MS. The points are created when you install hotfixes/updates, when you do a restore, install unsigned drivers, install with the Win installer or install shield, and every 86,400 seconds (24 hours). This can be changed by a DWORD value that indicates the number of seconds. There is also a value based on system up time. If Sys restore grows to occupy more than 90% of its storage space before 90 days, then it deletes the oldest points so that it has 25% or more of the remaining available space free for creating new restore points. To change the length of time they’re kept, adjust the RPLifeIntweval value in the Sys Restore key from default of 90 days. If you install XP or upgrade from Home to Pro it doesn’t retain settings. You can save space if you have a data only drive by turning it off there, because it sure as heck isn’t monitoring your data–so you might as well turn it off on that drive.

Using the slider as you say is probably the best way to control the size because you keep it running and just decrease it’s real estate, and it would be interesting and unusual to see someone want to retrieve a restore point very far back–more than a few days I would think.

SMBP

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System Restore in XP, 2000, and possibly NT defaults back to 90 days with the slider at max of 12% a figure somehow chosen by MS. The points are created when you install hotfixes/updates, when you do a restore, install unsigned drivers, install with the Win installer or install shield, and every 86,400 seconds (24 hours). This can be changed by a DWORD value that indicates the number of seconds. There is also a value based on system up time. If Sys restore grows to occupy more than 90% of its storage space before 90 days, then it deletes the oldest points so that it has 25% or more of the remaining available space free for creating new restore points. To change the length of time they’re kept, adjust the RPLifeIntweval value in the Sys Restore key from default of 90 days. If you install XP or upgrade from Home to Pro it doesn’t retain settings. You can save space if you have a data only drive by turning it off there, because it sure as heck isn’t monitoring your data–so you might as well turn it off on that drive.

Using the slider as you say is probably the best way to control the size because you keep it running and just decrease it’s real estate, and it would be interesting and unusual to see someone want to retrieve a restore point very far back–more than a few days I would think.

SMBP

Reply | Quote

You may be aware that you can control the maximum size occupied by the System Volume Information / System Restore folders as a percentage of your total hard disk size by Start => Control Panel => System. Selecting the System Restore tab, then change the “Disk Space to Use” slider.

On my box, at least, the maximum is 12% of the total disk space. Looking at the folder with Windows Explorer shows that the RPnnn folders date back about a month, and there seems to be one created (automatically) each day. (You probably have to have selected “View hidden folders” to be able to do this).

I think it highly unlikely that you would want/need to restore back to a point a month ago, though! Problems are usually evident more rapidly than that.
As always, your kilometerage may vary!

Reply | Quote

The System Volume Information folder contains the information of the System Restore Points. I would leave this folder alone, you never know when you will need to do a system restore.

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