Solved Do I Need System Restore?


When a system restore point is created a shadow copy is made. If you do a system restore, only parts of the shadow are restored. There is a lot more in there.

You can look inside shadow copies and retrieve files.

One simple way is to use shadowcopyview which is a tiny little portable

ShadowCopyView - Shadow copy viewer for Windows 10/8/7/Vista

Simple tool for Windows 10/8/7/Vista that lists the snapshots of your hard drive created by the Volume Shadow Copy service of Windows
www.nirsoft.net

rt click one of the shadowcopies and select open in windows explorer

shadocopyview1.jpg

shadowcopyview also runs in winpe without any extra dependencies. I always include it in my pebuilds. Have done for many years.

It is also possible to create a wim image of a shadow copy which can be used to restore the entire os. I have done it many times.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win7,Win11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    2x8gb 3200mhz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    benq gw2480
    PSU
    bequiet pure power 11 400CM
    Cooling
    cryorig m9i
  • Operating System
    win7,win11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    pentium g5400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    1x8gb 2400
    PSU
    xfx pro 450
Thanks to you both. I was thinking about my particular situation where there seems to be an issue with allocated shadow copy space which doesn't allow me to set a manual restore point. I wasn't sure if the auto restore points would still be created when I get the "Insufficient Storage Space " error message or if the process would be cancelled because of this? Thanks again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
Mitch said:
Thanks to you both. I was thinking about my particular situation where there seems to be an issue with allocated shadow copy space which doesn't allow me to set a manual restore point. I wasn't sure if the auto restore points would still be created when I get the "Insufficient Storage Space " error message or if the process would be cancelled because of this? Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Did you actually read my post (#34)?

Did you adjust re-adjust the slider? And what do you mean you can't create a manual restore point?

I get the feeling you aren't doing something right. You might read that post again? And especially pay attention to the images.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (Build 22631.4391)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built
    CPU
    Intel i9-9900K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Xtreme
    Memory
    32G (4x8) DDR4 Corsair RGB Dominator Platinum (3600Mhz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon (XFX MERC 310) RX 7900XT
    Sound Card
    Onboard (ESS Sabre HiFi using Realtek drivers)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27-inch Eizo Color Edge - CG2700X
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    5 Samsung SSD drives: 2X 970 NVME (512 & 1TB), 3X EVO SATA (2X 2TB, 1X 1TB)
    PSU
    EVGA Super Nova I000 G2 (1000 watt)
    Case
    Cooler Master H500M
    Cooling
    Corsair H115i Elite Capellix XT
    Keyboard
    Logitech Craft
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    500mb Download. 11mb Upload
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Windows Security
    Other Info
    System used for gaming, photography, music, school.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (Build 22631.4391)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 165U vPro® Processor
    Motherboard
    Vendor
    Memory
    32 GB LPDDR5X-6400MHz (Soldered)
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED, Anti Reflection, Touch, HDR 500, 400 nits, 120Hz
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Performance TLC Opal
    PSU
    Vendor
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Vapor Chamber Cooling
    Mouse
    Touchpad: Haptic Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, Black with Fingerprint Reader and WWAN
    Internet Speed
    100MB
    Browser
    Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Windows Security
    Other Info
    202. Build Your Own laptop.
    vPro Certified Model: vPro Enterprise
@dru Hi, Yes. I did everything you suggested. System protection is/ was enabled for the 2 drives + Dell support and the slider for the C drive set to around 10GB. The data drive was lower as i keep anything in external drives. Dell told me to increase the size of the shadow allocation using cmd which I did. By creating a manual recovery point, I mean " Create a manual recovery point right now for drives......."
Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
When available, please update the progress with the steps in post #31.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
@zbook .Thanks.Ill try and do that. One thing that occurred to me is that the VSS service is not always running. When I do a Macrium backup it starts and closes VSS. If check Services later, sometimes after a reboot, is shows the service as stopped. Startup is set to Automatic. If I'm getting an insufficient storage error could the stopped VSS Service cause that and if its set to Auto, should it be running all the time? Macrium completes with no problem.
Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
There may be information in the collected log files.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
Hi. Finally tracked down what I was doing wrong. I had System Protection turned on for the C, D (Data) and Dell Support. If I turn off Sys Prot for the D drive and Dell and leave only the C drive on a Restore Point is created. Strangely, this is different to our other PC where all 3 are enabled and a Restore Point is created. Not sure how this works. Thanks very much to all who posted. Your advice is much appreciated.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
System Restore in tandem with the F8 boot menu are good to have, especially if you end up having boot issues. I would recommend most users enable them both.

To do so, in an admin command prompt type the following:
Batch: 
BCDEDIT /SET {DEFAULT} BOOTMENUPOLICY LEGACY
POWERSHELL -nop -c "Enable-ComputerRestore -Drive 'C:\'"

Then you would be able to press F8 during boot before the spinning dots appear to enter safe mode or "Restore Last Known Good Configuration" when your system won't turn on.

If you have backups and etc it's not really necessary, but it can come in handy for people who aren't used to repairing systems.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    PE
Mitch said:
. . . my main concern are BIOS updates . . .
Click to expand...
If you download any BIOS update(s) from the Dell support website and keep them, you will be able to rerun the last valid BIOS update by just running that version to overwrite the U/S version.

Here are my backup versions -

View attachment 82202
- version 2.10.1 is the latest for my machine
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (Build 26100.3037)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Precision 3660 Tower Workstation
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900 5.10 GHz
    Motherboard
    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
    Memory
    32.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 770
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell P2714H Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 x 512GB NVME PC801 NVMe SK hynix - BOOT
    1 x 1TB Seagate ST1000LM049-2GH172 Internal HDD
    1 x 1TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 2TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 4TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    PSU
    300 Watts
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600
    Mouse
    Microsoft USB Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender + Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    BaseBoard Manufacturer Dell Inc.
    BaseBoard Product 0J1CP3
    BaseBoard Version A01
Thanks @BobOmb and @IanMosley . I've downloaded the current Dell BIOS from Dell Support and saved it to a USB. To install the previous BIOS from a USB do we insert the USB and boot, tap F12 to access the one time boot menu and select the USB? After that I'm a bit hazy about how to install it from there. Would appreciate your advice. Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
Mitch said:
Thanks @BobOmb and @IanMosley . I've downloaded the current Dell BIOS from Dell Support and saved it to a USB. To install the previous BIOS from a USB do we insert the USB and boot, tap F12 to access the one time boot menu and select the USB? After that I'm a bit hazy about how to install it from there. Would appreciate your advice. Thanks.
Click to expand...
You just double-click the version you wish to install.

Don't forget - you can download previous versions from the Dell support page -

Select the expand arrow on the right-hand side and then select 'View full driver details' -

View attachment 82223

and then select 'Other Available Versions' -

View attachment 82224
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (Build 26100.3037)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Precision 3660 Tower Workstation
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900 5.10 GHz
    Motherboard
    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
    Memory
    32.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 770
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell P2714H Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 x 512GB NVME PC801 NVMe SK hynix - BOOT
    1 x 1TB Seagate ST1000LM049-2GH172 Internal HDD
    1 x 1TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 2TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 4TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    PSU
    300 Watts
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600
    Mouse
    Microsoft USB Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender + Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    BaseBoard Manufacturer Dell Inc.
    BaseBoard Product 0J1CP3
    BaseBoard Version A01
@IanMosley . Thanks very much. I've done many BIOS updates without problems but useful to know what to do if things go wrong. I usually wait until BIOS updates appear on Supportassist before installing them as they appear some time after release on Dell Drivers & Downloads with, hopefully, any problems fixed. I usually install directly from the website to avoid problems. Thanks again Ian.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
You're very welcome!! :shawn:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (Build 26100.3037)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Precision 3660 Tower Workstation
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900 5.10 GHz
    Motherboard
    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
    Memory
    32.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 770
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell P2714H Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 x 512GB NVME PC801 NVMe SK hynix - BOOT
    1 x 1TB Seagate ST1000LM049-2GH172 Internal HDD
    1 x 1TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 2TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 4TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    PSU
    300 Watts
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600
    Mouse
    Microsoft USB Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender + Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    BaseBoard Manufacturer Dell Inc.
    BaseBoard Product 0J1CP3
    BaseBoard Version A01
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