How To Delete No Longer Needed Restrore Points?

[opalhort]

Whenever I make some changes, hardware or software, I create a system restore point, sometimes 4 or more a day. It has saved me many times but of course once things are working OK I end up with restore points which are no longer needed.

How can I delete some restore points selectively without deleting older restore points which may be needed in the future?

opalhort

[d0ndela]

You cannot delete selective System Restore Points, as they are threaded and each is connected to the other Point. Success of any Restore Point restoration depends on the integrity & the intact existence of the other/s in the chain.

So you can only delete all but the most recent restore point.

[newcomer01]

As stated above, using windows, only the last one can be kept.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial56.html

If you want to keep selected restore points you will have to use a registry program eg Uniblue Registry booster.

If you want to get a system up and running quickly use a program that keeps an image of the drive eg Nortin Ghost, Paragon Partition Manager.

[webfact]

There are several 3rd party programs available which can do what the oP is asking for.

One of these programs is AyRecovery . Its not free but you can trial it. But its worth the buck.

I'm using it on 3 computers and it has saved me from disaster many times.

Be aware that programs of this nature are no replacement for imaging software!

[Dontdisturb]

If you want to get a system up and running quickly use a program that keeps an image of the drive eg Nortin Ghost, Paragon Partition Manager.

I agree. And doesn't matter how many System Restore points you have, in case of an hard drive crash you'll be screwed.

With one or more system images on an external hard drive You can restore your system on a new device in less than an hour compared to re-install and re-configure your computer from scratch.

[newcomer01]

Just as another hint, try and keep the operating system and your data files on separate HDD or Partitions.

Especially My Documents which is in "C:\Documents and Settings\user Name" Location easily changed with properties.

This way you can back up data drive (incremental) daily and operating system when ever you want.

How important is your data/system? You don't really know until it is lost.

A good system is to have 3 HDD: 1 for operating system, 1 for data etc, 1 for backups using something like Norton Ghost etc. Especially since HDD are now relatively cheap for what you get. This is preferable to the normal user than having to setup RAID disks.

Happy computing.

[regedit]

You could create an image of your current system, then turn the Restore Point option off on all drives which will delete all existing restore points, then switch it on again. That way you'll have an image with all the restore points and a system without them.

[opalhort]

Thank you very much for all your replies

I'm aware of all the options/solutions mentioned in your replies, but being lazy by nature I was hoping there is a way to simply click on some old restore points and delete them. Well, M$ doesn't make life easy for us.

No big problem.

opalhort

[gosompoi]

Okay on windows XP, Vista and version 7 microsoft wants you do run 'Disk Cleanup' under accessories or from the "run command prompt" type 'cleanmgr' . Pick the drive you want to clean and the look for the 'more options' tab. Under the more options tab you will find remove restore points. This is how microsoft wants you to do it. My choice is to use ccleaner and it allows you to pick and choose what to delete from www.ccleaner.com or www.filehippo.com

[orosee]

Last and only answer required: Download CCleaner (free, highly recommended program), under the "Tools" button there is a "System Restore" button, you can delete all restore points except the latest one selectively. It also does a lot of other stuff with the first and second button.

[Daffy D]

Last and only answer required: Download CCleaner (free, highly recommended program), under the "Tools" button there is a "System Restore" button, you can delete all restore points except the latest one selectively. It also does a lot of other stuff with the first and second button.

Have been using CCleaner for years, never noticed the System Restore option

Very neat thanks for the pointer