Windows 10: System restore mysteries / shadow copies etc

Hi,

New Windows 10 user here.
Have Googled/Binged around and still a bit puzzled about this.

So, System Restore is defaulted to "Off" in Windows 10. I understand some of the reasons for this, but still find it a useful tool.
I left it like that, since it's still fresh and can basically just factory reset at this point

Restore settings mention "using system protection on a drive that contains system image backups will cause other shadow copies to be deleted faster than normal"

OK. I'm not sure how fast "normal" is meant to be...

My Windows 10 came with Dell's SupportAssist installed, which apparently has its own recovery tools. Using it to download/install a few drivers, I noticed it had enabled Windows' System Restore by itself and created some restore points there.
This came in useful because SupportAssist's driver updates resulted in a BSOD every time! I'll be uninstalling it...


What set me wondering though, is I later noticed some errors in Event Viewer

"The shadow copies ... were aborted because the shadow copy storage could not grow due to a user imposed limit"

So it's already full?

8.90GB was set aside and I've barely done anything besides customise my user account!

Installed nothing!!

I then checked and all my restore points had gone too
This was strange because there haven't been any Windows - or even driver - updates in the meantime which is usually the reason against keeping old restore points, for compatibility etc..?

So I'm not getting shadow copies, and I'm not getting restore points...

What was more odd, was system restore was saying there were no restore points, but Current Usage showed 400-600MB in use.
What is this being used for?

Are they all these functions competing for the same space?
and is this space barely enough for more than 1 of them to work properly?


I don't really understand a great deal about system image backups, shadow copies, or restore points generally... I just know I should be backing up in some way.
Ideally in a way I don't have to mircomanage...

So hopefully someone could explain


System Image Backup
- I can just reset to factory settings / reinstall Windows can't I, if things got really bad?
Are there any likely cases where I wouldn't be able to?
Is there any advantage for the average Joe in making a separate recovery drive to boot from?

> When the above warning mentioned a drive with "system image backups" plural, what did it mean?
Is Windows automatically making many new system images itself?
Are they available to me?
beyond the factory reset


Shadow copies
- Where can I find these / how can I access them?
As long as I'm backing up my files regularly, I should mostly be fine.
But it would be nice to get back the *exact* content I lost in the event of a crash. So how do I do this?

System restore
- I'd like to have something with this functionality, but not if it's preventing the above functions from working.
And I'm not into backing up my whole system to another drive on a daily basis, that seems like a lot of hassle


So basically, what's the best practice for low-effort safeguarding in the event of a failure to boot / hijack / loss of data etc?
I'm more confused than ever now

I haven't noticed the shadow copy error in the last few days, and a new restore point was created. But I don't expect either to last like this for long...

Thanks

:)

 

About deletion of Shadow Copy or System Restore in Windows 10

Hello,

Today I did a Disk Defragment on C: Drive in Windows 10. Before Defragmentation, I had 151GB/200GB, but after defragmentation now I have 147GB/200GB.

I searched on the internet and found that there might be some shadows copies done. Now according to a post in Microsoft Support, I was able to see that almost 3.57 GB is consumed by system restore. My question are :

1. Are System Restore and Shadow Copy same? Because both of them are consuming the same amount of space.
2. If I delete a system restore point at this point (Currently, I only have the latest restore point after Defragmentation), will it create any other problems?
3. Lastly, Are Shadow copies or the Windows Restore points automatically deleted?

Thanks in advance.

 

About deletion of Shadow Copy or System Restore in Windows 10

Are System Restore and Shadow Copy same? Yes plus shadows can be used by some Backup/System image programs. If you delete your System Restore its OK as long as everything seems working correctly - but should something go haywire you might
need a system restore point to get windows back working.

You can open a command prompt(admin) and see your shadows;

Code:

VssAdmin list shadows

While there you can delete all shadows too

Code:

VssAdmin delete shadows /all

If you delete them, you might consider making a new fresh System Restore Point after running your defrag, then the shadow will be inserted after the end of the defraged files.

 

Restore Point and Shadow Copy

Greg Carmack,



Many thanks. Followed your suggestions for System Restore and although the Win 10 menus are different I found that System Protection was already “On” Turned off, rebooted and turned back “On” and was able to create a Restore Point for first time
in months.



Followed your suggestions on recovering the ability to create “Shadow Copy,” and create a backup my files was also successful. Had spent many hours following Microsoft Support instructions to no avail.



Again, many, many thanks.