Why does System Restore never work for me?

I have no restore points. I'm just wondering why.

Note: There's no panic. System restore has never worked for me since (and during XP). The only times it has ever worked was for minor recovery that I could have done myself manually - in less time. For major recoveries, I use system images. Computers have been Amstrad, a series of Dells, and now Asus.

I'm fairly certain that since (and during) Win XP, restore points were created just before the old, self-selected Windows Updates.

Anyway, here is my System Restore configuration:

Protected drives:
- OS (C:) (System)
- ProgramsOverflow (D:)

Here are the settings after pressing "Configure" button:

- Turn on system protection

- Current Usage: 54.44 MB

- Max Usage 10% (9.77 GB)

With these settings, for my own amusement, I made a restore point just now. I made NO changes, then restored that same restore point (there was only one in the list). I got the message:



Thanks

Thanks for your response.

dalchina said:

Disk imaging is not an alternative

That's a very interesting statement.

Since I already use Macrium, but never System Restore, could you please tell me where SR is SUPERIOR to a partition image. In other words, what can SR do that Macrium can't do?

I found the following sites by using "System Restore versus disk image OR imaging":

https://www.ricksdailytips.com/system-restore-vs-system-image/

What System Restore Can and Cannot Do to Your Windows

IMO: the previous two links shows that Macrium is SUPERIOR in every way.

Additional info: In my OP, I didn't mention that all my personal data is on a separate DATA (E:) partition. That partition contains all the MVP files that were moved using standard Windows tools.

I only create images of (a) the Windows partition, and (b) a "ProgramsOverflow" partition, which I need because I have a small SSD.

Thanks

Thanks for response.

Bastet said:

If you have third party anti virus then their self protection setting interferes with system restore. Try restoring in safe mode.

I use Win Defender and the always-on MBAM.

Whilst image backups are not the same as system restore, they are far more reliable. The key trick is to store data on a different partition than the C drive.