About System restore?

[ManyBeers]

Hi there, I have a Sony laptop running WXP SP2 with a 6.5 gb c drive(system
drive) and I noticed I had quite a few restore points so I reduced the
default 12 percent of disc space to 7 percent through the settings checkbox.
I also want to change the restore point retention interval from the default
90 days to 30 days. I sthis a good idea? I have rarely used system restore
and have never gone farther back then a couple of days.
90 days seems to long. I change the value in this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrentVersion\SystemRestore
RPLifeInterval

[Will Denny]

Hi

If you are confident that you can change that Registry value without causing
any problems elsewhere - then yes, go ahead and change it!!!! But, be very,
very careful as to what you are doing!!!!

--


Will Denny
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

"ManyBeers" > wrote in message
...
> Hi there, I have a Sony laptop running WXP SP2 with a 6.5 gb c
> drive(system
> drive) and I noticed I had quite a few restore points so I reduced the
> default 12 percent of disc space to 7 percent through the settings
> checkbox.
> I also want to change the restore point retention interval from the
> default
> 90 days to 30 days. I sthis a good idea? I have rarely used system restore
> and have never gone farther back then a couple of days.
> 90 days seems to long. I change the value in this key:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrentVersion\SystemRestore
> RPLifeInterval

[Dixonian69]

Restricting the size of the System Restore folder alone, obviously will not
allow enough space for System restore to retain excessive restore retention
dates.

Bert Kinney's Website
How to Use System Restore
http://bertk.mvps.org/

"ManyBeers" wrote:

> Hi there, I have a Sony laptop running WXP SP2 with a 6.5 gb c drive(system
> drive) and I noticed I had quite a few restore points so I reduced the
> default 12 percent of disc space to 7 percent through the settings checkbox.
> I also want to change the restore point retention interval from the default
> 90 days to 30 days. I sthis a good idea? I have rarely used system restore
> and have never gone farther back then a couple of days.
> 90 days seems to long. I change the value in this key:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrentVersion\SystemRestore
> RPLifeInterval

[Lem]

ManyBeers wrote:
> Hi there, I have a Sony laptop running WXP SP2 with a 6.5 gb c drive(system
> drive) and I noticed I had quite a few restore points so I reduced the
> default 12 percent of disc space to 7 percent through the settings checkbox.
> I also want to change the restore point retention interval from the default
> 90 days to 30 days. I sthis a good idea? I have rarely used system restore
> and have never gone farther back then a couple of days.
> 90 days seems to long. I change the value in this key:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrentVersion\SystemRestore
> RPLifeInterval

It seems to me that when XP first came out, there was considerable
discussion in this forum about the amount of space to allocate to System
Restore. If I recall correctly, the consensus among MVPs was that 12%
of most drives was far too much space to allocate. I have had mine set
to 1 GB (1% on an 80 GB drive) for at least a couple of years with no
problems. I just looked, and currently, I have 14 restore points --
that seems more than enough.

I really doubt that you need to change the "restore point retention
interval" (value of RPLifeInterval is datatype uint32, expressed in
seconds). The number of restore points saved -- which roughly
corresponds to how far back in time they go -- depends on the amount of
space allocated, with the RPLifeInterval only coming into play if you
have either a very large amount of space allocated or very infrequent
restore point creation. My current 14 restore points -- which include
both the automatic system restore points and manual restore points -- go
back about 2 and a half weeks. Thus, my restore points get deleted far
sooner that the time period specified in RPLifeInterval.

[ManyBeers]

"Lem" wrote:

> ManyBeers wrote:
> > Hi there, I have a Sony laptop running WXP SP2 with a 6.5 gb c drive(system
> > drive) and I noticed I had quite a few restore points so I reduced the
> > default 12 percent of disc space to 7 percent through the settings checkbox.
> > I also want to change the restore point retention interval from the default
> > 90 days to 30 days. I sthis a good idea? I have rarely used system restore
> > and have never gone farther back then a couple of days.
> > 90 days seems to long. I change the value in this key:
> > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrentVersion\SystemRestore
> > RPLifeInterval
>
> It seems to me that when XP first came out, there was considerable
> discussion in this forum about the amount of space to allocate to System
> Restore. If I recall correctly, the consensus among MVPs was that 12%
> of most drives was far too much space to allocate. I have had mine set
> to 1 GB (1% on an 80 GB drive) for at least a couple of years with no
> problems. I just looked, and currently, I have 14 restore points --
> that seems more than enough.
>
> I really doubt that you need to change the "restore point retention
> interval" (value of RPLifeInterval is datatype uint32, expressed in
> seconds). The number of restore points saved -- which roughly
> corresponds to how far back in time they go -- depends on the amount of
> space allocated, with the RPLifeInterval only coming into play if you
> have either a very large amount of space allocated or very infrequent
> restore point creation. My current 14 restore points -- which include
> both the automatic system restore points and manual restore points -- go
> back about 2 and a half weeks. Thus, my restore points get deleted far
> sooner that the time period specified in RPLifeInterval.
>

I agree with you and I will leave the Registry alone. Like you say the
limiting factor is the space allocated, and I only want about 2 weeks worth
of restore points which is what I have now. Thanks everyone for your help.

[Rock]

ManyBeers wrote:

> Hi there, I have a Sony laptop running WXP SP2 with a 6.5 gb c drive(system
> drive) and I noticed I had quite a few restore points so I reduced the
> default 12 percent of disc space to 7 percent through the settings checkbox.
> I also want to change the restore point retention interval from the default
> 90 days to 30 days. I sthis a good idea? I have rarely used system restore
> and have never gone farther back then a couple of days.
> 90 days seems to long. I change the value in this key:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrentVersion\SystemRestore
> RPLifeInterval

You're correct. SR isn't much good beyond a week or two.

--
Rock
MS MVP Windows - Shell/User