_RESTORE in windows ME

oh yikes
that was close i went to do the format and said yes but it said my c drive was already in use so i decided to do it another time
guess i'm lucky cause i'm not sure if the _RESTORE really is a system backup

Well,

I am using ME on this box and have disabled system restore and deleted the bloat that it was filling my hard drive with.

I would suggest deleting all but your latest restore point. It creates a new one each time you boot your computer, which explains why it is taking up so much space.

I would guess that you need to change your system settings to "see" the files...............open Windows Explorer

<tools>
<folder options>
<view>

and check the box to view hidden files and folders

Cheers

I don't think there's any way a restore directory can grow to 16 gigs. By default system restore only takes 12% of the drive. It might be a good idea to disable system restore, delete the directory and enable system restore again. Also, running an antivirus program and perhaps installing a firewall might be a good idea.

Cheers,
cgkanchi

Takk your parents into getting a second HDD. (40GB = approx £40 /$70)
Hang this one onto the IDE cable going to the original HDD, label it, and copy the restore to there.
Let it grow, and learn about this property, THEN follow the advice from nihil:

Quote:

---

I would suggest deleting all but your latest restore point. It creates a new one each time you boot your computer, which explains why it is taking up so much space.

I would guess that you need to change your system settings to "see" the files...............open Windows Explorer

<tools>
<folder options>
<view>

and check the box to view hidden files and folders

---

Now you SHOULD have a restore set up that is as big as required. You will also have that second HDD to play with..........................

cgkanchi,

I have heard of a WinME restore folder taking 20Gb out of a 40Gb HDD. I don't know why this happens, but it just seems to grow? ME was the first OS to have system restore so I guess it is a little crude.

Foxy~ WinME will create a restore folder on each and EVERY HDD that you have installed. That said, given that this is obviously a fairly old machine, a second HDD to back up particularly personal data files would be a good idea..............or at least regulatly backing up to CD.

Cheers

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by nihil
Well,


I would guess that you need to change your system settings to "see" the files...............open Windows Explorer

<tools>
<folder options>
<view>

and check the box to view hidden files and folders

Cheers

---

I know how to view hidden files and folders and already have that option enabled. _RESTORE itself is a hidden file so i had to turn on the view hidden files and folders option to view it. Even so, there are still only 4 files inside the folder and together they don't add up to even 1 MB. There are no other files or anything in the folder hidden or otherwise as far as i can tell.....

Try this:

<start>
<run>
winfile
<OK>

From the menubar:

<view>
<by file type>

Then check ALL the boxes and go and look at your _restore folder

Let me know what files you find

Also go into system restore and see how many recovery points you have.

Nihil, i did what you told me to but _RESTORE still only shows the same 4 files (diskcfg.dat, srdiskid.dat, VxDMon.cfg, VxDMon.dat) When I run my spysweeper program, it goes through all the files on my comp and it shows which files it is sweeping and i'll get tens of thousands of files with a source of C:\_restore\temp\a(followed by a long number).cpy Does this mean anything?

Well, not really.

I would certainly boot into safe mode (F8) and first run Scandisk with auto fix enabled. Then run defrag in standard mode. Then check your _restore file size.

I am guessing that the files were deleted when recovery was disabled, but the space has not been released for some reason. AV and antispy software can frequently find stuff or parts of it that you cannot see.

Try XEN from Paul Brown as well..............I posted a link in your other thread.

Let me know how you get on :)

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the.cpy files are part of system restore. Make sure that you have unchecked the don't show extensions of known filetypes box in the <view> option where you told the system to show protected system files.

Whilst you are in sfae mode run winfile and delete the "Temp" subfolder that is in the _restore folder.

Thanks everyone especially Nihil. You've all been very helpful. After much deliberation i finally decided to just delete the file. Its my parents comp and i don't see they ever having to use the system restore. If we ever run into a real problem and the comp no longer works properly and they want to restore to an earlier date and were unable to, it would most likely be the last straw and they would buy a new box. Seeing as this is such a crappy comp, it makes me wonder sometimes why i don't just *accidently* (cough cough) run a very large magnet over this comp.....