Restore Points

Restore points and system imaging (native or 3rd party like Macrium) aren't the same. "Native" in this context means "included as standard in Windows operating system" so you don't have to buy or install anything. "3rd party" means not made by Microsoft so you have to download and install (and possibly pay for) someone else's program.

A system image saves everything so you can restore and everything will be back to how it was including all your files and documents. For example if your disk drive broke (or your computer) you could get everything back as of the time you made it. Any changes you made or files you added since you made the backup will be lost if you restore it.

Windows system image has been fine for me although it is slower and more inconvenient to use than other options. Macrium which is free (for most use cases) also works fine and is favored by lots of people. Don't buy the paid version yet. The free version will make a perfectly good system image that you can use to restore your system in case of failure. The paid version has features (like backing up certain folders or differential images) that you probably don't need to start with.

You can (if you want) make both a Windows system image and a macrium image. You can also make copies on various disks and give them to your neighbors or friends in case your house burns down. Only you can decide how important your data is to you.

I've recently moved from Macrium to Acronis as it is faster and makes smaller images than Macrium but each to their own. It depends what features you want and what interface you like. They all work fine - just pick one, make a backup and test you can restore it. Then put a copy somewhere safe.

Restore points are a separate thing. They don't hold an snapshot of your whole system. They store a small subset of (generally system related) files. You can revert to a restore point and it will backout changes you have made to settings or upgrades you have made while leaving your user files intact. You can also use them to revert to a previous version of a certain file. They have a place (probably historical) but you can't use them to recreate your system in case of a disk failure. Note that after version releases Windows 10 deletes all restore points and they are disabled by default. I leave system restore turned on but apart from testing I've not actually used system restore since Windows 7.

Hope that helps a bit.

doncole said:

I read in one the tutorials that System Restore was not very reliable. They said a USB backup drive was better. And the best way to make it was Macrium Reflect. I can use System Restore for any new upgrades.
I used System Restore in safe mode successfully. While trying figure out how I did it I got side tracked into Macrium Reflect. I download it and lost my Restore Points. I have less than 30 days to make the disk with Macrium Reflect. I'm not going to pay them $125. What Size disk should I get? What do mean by "the native Windows recovery disk image"? Do you need Macrium Reflect to make it?

Are saying those two partitions before C: don't belong there?

I'm going study this situation some more. I won't change any partitions until I get back to you.

Don Cole

Please expand the status column. We can’t comment on partitions until we see that.

To add to Ix07 post, which has great info. You may not have given System Protection enough space for restore points, so it deletes them as needed for more space on the disk. There's a slide in there to adjust for more gigs if need be.

dalchina said:

A fair guess as to why it may be slow is you've very little spare space on your C: (8Gb I think). That relates to your choices on partitioning your system drive.

This could result in a lot of time spent moving things back and forth between your page file on your system disk and memory, for example.

Also doesn't give you room for manoeuvre on allocating space for restore points, or enough space for upgrading (when e.g. Windows.old is created).

How much free space do I need? I've got it up to 18.2GBs free space and it's still slow.
Forget Restore Points I already lost the Restore Points that I needed.

Don Cole

Bree said:

We need the columns to be wide enough to read what they contain. It's explained in step 3 of this tutorial.
Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot

I read the tutorial and still can 't figure out how to make them wider.

Also if I make a disk using Macrium Reflect what size disk do I need?

Do Cole

dalchina said:

That's better (remember your video card will probably take some of your RAM). Please post a screenshot of your task manager, with any column of interest organised high to low by clicking on the relevant tab.

hhh vvVv

doncole said:

I read the tutorial and still can 't figure out how to make them wider.

Also if I make a disk using Macrium Reflect what size disk do I need?

Do Cole

Place your mouse pointer over the line that's in between the words "Status" and "Capacity". The pointer changes to a cross hair. When it changes to that hold down the right mouse button and drag it to the right.

You will be able to delete some partitions for more room. Just got to know the info.

I don't use Macrium and can't find the size. How to create USB rescue media

dalchina said:

Task manager please - like this:


If there is significant CPU or disk use, please do a clean boot and repeat.
Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials
Part 1

There are a few more do you need them all?