HOW TO REDUCE SYSTEM RESTORE SPACE TO GAIN MORE FREE SPACE ON DISK

HOW TO REDUCE SYSTEM RESTORE SPACE TO GAIN MORE FREE SPACE ON DISK

System Restore is a component of Microsoft's Windows Me and the later editions like Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems that allows rolling back of hardware drivers, system files, registry keys, installed programs, etc., to a previous state in the event of system crash or malfunction.

For instance, if the computer does not work normal after you installed a program, you can do a system restore to a date before the installation of that program. That would remove the program and also get your computer to a state when it was working fine. 

System Restore takes a snapshot of the system files, drivers and settings each time a restore point is created. When too many system restore points are created that occupies a considerably huge disk space.

You can remove the older restore points to free that disk space or just restrict the space used. To do that:

1.      Right Click on “My Computer”

2.      Go to “Properties”

3.      In the Window that appears, Click on “System Restore”

You would see the drives on the computer as “C:\” , “D:\” etc.

4.      Highlight the drive where you would like to free up the disk space and then click on “Settings”

5.      In that window, under the disk space usage, use the scroll bar to reduce the disk space allocated for “System Restore”

6.      The default size is 12% of the disk space. You can increase or decrease it as needed

The computer has to be restarted for the changes to take effect.