System Restore?

Drakon · Jan 29, 2005, 05:28 AM

Is system restore really needed? i know it's convient to have running in case an installation goes wrong and u can "rollback" to a previous state. i currently have it turned off on both my drives, but was wondering if i should turn it back on. also how much space should i give to it? i have 2x 160GB hd's, but i have them partitioned.

TJ- · Jan 29, 2005, 06:29 AM

when something goes wrong you will wish you had it turned on, like when i messed up the xp settings and nothing would work, if i had it turned on i could have used system restore, but nooooooo i had to reinstall windows.... will be kept on from now on.

Dark Lord · Jan 29, 2005, 06:38 AM

its a nice back up to have on. its saved my ass more then once.

CDsDontBurn · Jan 29, 2005, 06:46 AM

hahaha.....i say screw system restore. That's one of the first things i disable when i reinstall windows

. However, if you want to leave it on, i'd say give about 10% of your total HDD (for every HDD) space to system restore.

Judas · Jan 29, 2005, 07:44 AM

if you good with reinstalling windows easily, no point in having System restore in my opinion... just a waist of system resources...

Chaos · Jan 29, 2005, 01:55 PM

one thing i dont like about it is the fact that if you happen to get a virus that you are not imediately aware of and power off your system. System restore will back up your virus with it's restore point

PangingJr · Jan 29, 2005, 02:41 PM

Every time you successfully start XP in normal mode, the OS makes a record of all currently installed drivers and the contents of the registry key HKLM/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet. This record comes in handy if you install a driver or make a hardware configuration change that causes your system to hang at startup. When XP displays the Startup Recovery menu, you can choose the Last Known Good(LKG) Configuration option. This menu choice restores the previous, working registry key, effectively removing the changes that are causing the problem.

The LKG configuration is the recovery choice of first resort when your system won't boot. try using it first. if you get the XP to boot, then you can run System Restore(SR) if necessary.
SR can't be run unless you can boot to normal or a safe mode. That's the practical difference.

But if you suspect that a driver change is causing system problems and you do not have a recent System Restore point to go back to, do not log on in normal mode. As soon as you log on in normal mode, XP resets the LKG configuration information, effectively removing your safety net. If you suspect problems, start XP in Safe Mode and do basic troubleshooting first. Logging on in Safe Mode does not update the LKG configuration information, so you can safely roll back to the LKG configuration if Safe Mode troubleshooting is unsuccessful.

In general, the SR is a more reliable alternative than the LKG configuration menu choice, because it restores all Windows system files and the entire registry rather than just a single key.

SR is the recovery option of first choice if your system boots, but if you know it was caused by a driver update, then the Roll Back Driver is preferred, since it is more specific than the SR.

System Restore in XP is an incredible space hog. It might be worth it, if System Restore were a truly complete and foolproof form of backup, but it's not. At best, System Restore can and will get the core operating system running again after a bad crash, but it doesn't return all files to the pre-trouble state, and it can't remove all traces of a program that went bad. As a result, System Restore's usefulness is limited, and so should be its appetite for disk space. Ane One cannot selectively backup or store individual Restore Points. You may want to consider using a disk imaging program, such as Norton Ghost, Paragon Drive Backup, Symantec Drive Image.

germanjulian · Jan 29, 2005, 02:57 PM

You may want to consider using a disk imaging program, such as Norton Ghost, Paragon Drive Backup, Symantec Drive Image!

just as Ctrl-Alt-Del said.

system restore does not save your a** every time! drive image will! works great.

Sandok · Jan 29, 2005, 03:13 PM

any of those free?

Drakon · Jan 29, 2005, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandok

any of those free?

yeah, are they?

germanjulian · Jan 29, 2005, 04:19 PM

depends guys

drive image is by far the best one. but you need to use a floppy with the sata drives if you want to restore. backup is done in windows while running windows even! great, takes 2 minutes (i keep my games on seperate partition.

norton ghost doesnt work with sata.

TJ- · Jan 29, 2005, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandok

any of those free?

everything is free...

.... just gotta know where to look

PangingJr · Jan 30, 2005, 06:56 AM

Norton Ghost is compatible with the S-ATA standard. --( http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...03032512525325 )

Paragon Drive Backup 6.0 Supports S-ATA HDDs. --( http://www.drive-backup.com/home/personal/features.htm )

**dj_stick** · Jan 30, 2005, 08:45 AM

my motherboard came with imaging backup software that was free, but i don't kbow how reliable it is

Jan 29, 2005, 05:28 AM	#1
Drakon DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Floatin'... Posts: 4,957 Rep Power: 0	System Restore? Is system restore really needed? i know it's convient to have running in case an installation goes wrong and u can "rollback" to a previous state. i currently have it turned off on both my drives, but was wondering if i should turn it back on. also how much space should i give to it? i have 2x 160GB hd's, but i have them partitioned.

Jan 29, 2005, 06:29 AM	#2
TJ- DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Infinity Posts: 3,679 Rep Power: 0	when something goes wrong you will wish you had it turned on, like when i messed up the xp settings and nothing would work, if i had it turned on i could have used system restore, but nooooooo i had to reinstall windows.... will be kept on from now on. __________________ new sig comming soon

Jan 29, 2005, 06:46 AM	#4
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,806 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	hahaha.....i say screw system restore. That's one of the first things i disable when i reinstall windows . However, if you want to leave it on, i'd say give about 10% of your total HDD (for every HDD) space to system restore. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Jan 29, 2005, 01:55 PM	#6
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,268 Rep Power: 167 System Specs	one thing i dont like about it is the fact that if you happen to get a virus that you are not imediately aware of and power off your system. System restore will back up your virus with it's restore point __________________

Jan 29, 2005, 02:57 PM	#8
germanjulian Back in London Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Posts: 1,797 Rep Power: 0	You may want to consider using a disk imaging program, such as Norton Ghost, Paragon Drive Backup, Symantec Drive Image! just as Ctrl-Alt-Del said. system restore does not save your a** every time! drive image will! works great. __________________ /\|\ Asus P5W DH Deluxe, Intel C2D E6600, 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2, E-VGA GeForce 7800 GT, Creative X-Fi Extreme Music, 500GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA, Lian Li PC-V1100 Aluminum Case Black, etc. http://germanjulian.com /\|\

Jan 29, 2005, 06:38 AM	#3
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 125 System Specs	its a nice back up to have on. its saved my ass more then once.

Jan 29, 2005, 02:41 PM	#7
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 71	Every time you successfully start XP in normal mode, the OS makes a record of all currently installed drivers and the contents of the registry key HKLM/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet. This record comes in handy if you install a driver or make a hardware configuration change that causes your system to hang at startup. When XP displays the Startup Recovery menu, you can choose the Last Known Good(LKG) Configuration option. This menu choice restores the previous, working registry key, effectively removing the changes that are causing the problem. The LKG configuration is the recovery choice of first resort when your system won't boot. try using it first. if you get the XP to boot, then you can run System Restore(SR) if necessary. SR can't be run unless you can boot to normal or a safe mode. That's the practical difference. But if you suspect that a driver change is causing system problems and you do not have a recent System Restore point to go back to, do not log on in normal mode. As soon as you log on in normal mode, XP resets the LKG configuration information, effectively removing your safety net. If you suspect problems, start XP in Safe Mode and do basic troubleshooting first. Logging on in Safe Mode does not update the LKG configuration information, so you can safely roll back to the LKG configuration if Safe Mode troubleshooting is unsuccessful. In general, the SR is a more reliable alternative than the LKG configuration menu choice, because it restores all Windows system files and the entire registry rather than just a single key. SR is the recovery option of first choice if your system boots, but if you know it was caused by a driver update, then the Roll Back Driver is preferred, since it is more specific than the SR. System Restore in XP is an incredible space hog. It might be worth it, if System Restore were a truly complete and foolproof form of backup, but it's not. At best, System Restore can and will get the core operating system running again after a bad crash, but it doesn't return all files to the pre-trouble state, and it can't remove all traces of a program that went bad. As a result, System Restore's usefulness is limited, and so should be its appetite for disk space. Ane One cannot selectively backup or store individual Restore Points. You may want to consider using a disk imaging program, such as Norton Ghost, Paragon Drive Backup, Symantec Drive Image.

Jan 29, 2005, 03:13 PM	#9
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,472 Rep Power: 0	any of those free?

Jan 29, 2005, 04:19 PM	#11
germanjulian Back in London Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Posts: 1,797 Rep Power: 0	depends guys drive image is by far the best one. but you need to use a floppy with the sata drives if you want to restore. backup is done in windows while running windows even! great, takes 2 minutes (i keep my games on seperate partition. norton ghost doesnt work with sata. __________________ /\|\ Asus P5W DH Deluxe, Intel C2D E6600, 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2, E-VGA GeForce 7800 GT, Creative X-Fi Extreme Music, 500GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA, Lian Li PC-V1100 Aluminum Case Black, etc. http://germanjulian.com /\|\

Jan 30, 2005, 06:56 AM	#13
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 71	Norton Ghost is compatible with the S-ATA standard. --( http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...03032512525325 ) Paragon Drive Backup 6.0 Supports S-ATA HDDs. --( http://www.drive-backup.com/home/personal/features.htm )