Is there a disadvantage to enable System Restore?

[NDman]

Will having it enabled slow the computer down, and/or using a lot of resources? I always wonder because if it doesn't, why would MS even other giving the user an option?

[contoursvt]

I always disable mine because I keep a ghost of my system at the point I'm happy with. I'm not sure if it slows things down but I just dont feel like giving up any space because I have smaller more expensive scsi drives...

[p51dray]

I would say no, other than eating up a certain amount of hard disk space. It only activates / create a restore point when you install something. It doesn't do it continously.

[D-Sisive]

nah waste of hdd space

i found it using up 4gb of space...

if i ever mess up my comp, i just reinstall since i have my data on another drive and just use the boot drive for programs, no saved data at all, and if there is, its temp stuff i dont mind losing

[NDman]

Mayeb I should make a ghost. I only have 1 HDD (used to have a 10Gb but advised to take it out, and I did today. :)). So I have System Restore on. I have 120Gb, with about 80+ Gb of space. I think I am allowed to waste some.

[Gee]

Mayeb I should make a ghost. I only have 1 HDD (used to have a 10Gb but advised to take it out, and I did today. :)). So I have System Restore on. I have 120Gb, with about 80+ Gb of space. I think I am allowed to waste some.

System Restore is a good thing. Yes it wastes a little space. But when you screw something up, you will be glad it was on.

As for resources. It does not run resident. So if it is on, it just has a set time that it will use to create a restore point. It is not actually running all the time.

[mortimusmaximus]

I find system restore will not work if you defrag often and empty your recycle bin.The amount that it uses on your drive is adjustable as a percentage of the total disk space.

[Absolute]

Just the amount of size it takes up, which can limit you to the number of checkpoints it keeps.

I've used it several times, saving me hours of work re-installing.

[konfusion666]

the amount of space that sys restore claims to use is really more of a "size limit" than anything else. it means it will use UP TO that amount. it's a very useful thing to keep enabled.

you probably have better things to do with your free time than Ghosting your had drive once a week, right?

[Amourek]

I rather use Ghost. System Restore fragments the drive up.

[NDman]

I find system restore will not work if you defrag often and empty your recycle bin.The amount that it uses on your drive is adjustable as a percentage of the total disk space.

??? What do you mean by that? Defrag and emptying Recycling Bin is bad for System Restore, somehow? I don't get it. I only defrag once in a blue moon. But I do the disk cleanup regularly. Will that matter?

[NDman]

??? What do you mean by that? Defrag and emptying Recycling Bin is bad for System Restore, somehow? I don't get it. I only defrag once in a blue moon. But I do the disk cleanup regularly. Will that matter?

One last try to get an answer. :) Thanks again

[konfusion666]

??? What do you mean by that? Defrag and emptying Recycling Bin is bad for System Restore, somehow? I don't get it. I only defrag once in a blue moon. But I do the disk cleanup regularly. Will that matter?

nope.

[NDman]

So only Defrag then? (though I still don't quite understand how/why it would but I'll take it)

[konfusion666]

running defrag, emptying your recycling bin, keeping System Restore enabled are all normal Windows XP activities. there is no reason why any of them would "screw up" the other.

the only point which might hold is that System Restore may cause a slightly greater fragmentation on your system HD, that's it.

[mortimusmaximus]

Just that the times that a system restore have failed on me were all times that I had defragged or emptied my recycle bin earlier.If I did not do those 2 things the restore was always successful.It has got me out of trouble but it has failed more often than succeeded.I use a ghost image now.

[kAMiKaZe]

I always disable system restore.. but I leave it running on computers for people who are computer-challenged.

It's a waste of resources, if you don't plan on ever using it. If my system ever got so screwed up that I needed to go back in time.. I would just format my system partition (not touching my other 2 partitions with all the valuable data), then re-install WinXP.

Best plan is as others have mentioned.. install everything you want, then do a ghost image of it all.

[CodecX81]

At first I left it on, until my system majorly screwed up when i was fooling around with beta drivers for my video card (this was a couple years ago)

royalled messed it up, tried to do a system restore. Didn't work. so I figured It was my fault and I formatted.

Since then I've tried to run it on other PC's with the same result, different issues.
--So I shut it off

System restore harbours backups of all 21st century viruses, making it necessary to shut it off before disinfecting
--So I shut it off

It takes up unnecessary disk space
--So I shut it off

...I could go on. but.. Just don't use it.

[bug]

I keep it enabled on C partition only.

[kAMiKaZe]

I keep it enabled on C partition only.
I guess you're trying to say you just keep it on your system partition?

[Absolute]

Have to say it saved me alot of time this morning, when a co-worker installed the IE7 Beta 1 on their computer. Couldn't un-install it, so a simple system restore removed it :)

[kAMiKaZe]

Have to say it saved me alot of time this morning, when a co-worker installed the IE7 Beta 1 on their computer. Couldn't un-install it, so a simple system restore removed it :)
LoL!

That's what someone gets for trusting m$ and installing their software into their OS.

[Absolute]

That's what someone gets for trusting m$ and installing their software into their OS.
Lol, agreed :) Thankfully we've already extracted the program, and just added it as another IE version that can be run, in addition to 4, 5, 5.5, and 6.

[konfusion666]

people who advocate turning off System Restore (except for certain particular, unique situations) are usually the same fools who take BlackViper's 'Service Tweaking Guide' as the gospel. ;)

[kAMiKaZe]

Well I've run all my previoius OS's for about.. umm.. 15+ years without a System Restore.. why would I need to start using one now?

My resources can be used by more useful items.