All Windows 10 restore options

Mustachio · 24 Mar 2019

So I'm a little confused here. Apparently I can't increase the number of W10 Restore points to keep. I can only increase how much disc space to use. Also, by default W10 makes a Restore Point every day or 1440 minutes?

I thought upon install W10 creates a Restore partition at the end of your HDD. But I'm confused about what I can specify by turning on System Protection. Some sites show that only allows you to increase disk space for Restore Points.

I believe I don't need to, or can't, create a Restore "disc" (or usb) since I can keep the usb I used for install, boot to that, and get the options to get to 'Repair' where it will first try using Restore Points, namely, the most recent one.

I've found how to enable Volume Shadow Copy in W10 but wonder if that's necessary. It copies OS and data files but I've read enabling it, something that's non-standard in W10, can cause issues.

Finally, I've read conflicting accounts of how well 'Restore" works in W10 and wonder if it's worth trying System Restore for other partitions. I have lots of disk space but if as others have said YMMV I figure I'll skip it.

Thanks in advance for any feedback,

Mustachio

NavyLCDR · 24 Mar 2019

If you really value your data and Windows installation, then do not rely on Windows built-in backup options. Just from the threads on these forums, they have proven to be extremely unreliable. If you really want a reliable backup, use a third party imaging program such as Macrium Reflect Free. Also make sure to create the USB rescue drive associated with whichever program you choose to use.

System Restore Points created by System Protection is supposed to save snapshots of your OS that you can revert back to if something that gets installed such as update has a bad effect on your system.

The separate recovery partition is supposed to contain files that you can boot into to repair your system when you can't get into Windows - or if you need to do a repair of Windows that cannot occur when Windows itself is running.

The advantage to creating the specific system specific recovery drive (USB flash drive) is that it will also contain hardware drivers specific to your system and if it is a retail computer will also contain the factory loaded software (if you have not done your own clean install over it first).

I believe the system will keep as many restore points as will fit into the space you allocated on your hard drive for them. The more space you allocate, the more system restore points will be kept. When the space fills up, the oldest restore points will drop off to make room for the new restore points being created.

I would never, ever trust Windows built-in backup features for important data/programs though.

dalchina · 24 Mar 2019

Simple points:
System Restore does NOT protect your data
System Restore does NOT help if your disk dies or is encrypted by ransomware e.g.
System Restore is often unreliable when it comes to restoring
System Restore is great if it succeeds and is relevant to your problem.
You can schedule your own System Restore point creation.

Therefore to back up your data and protect your OS you need a different solution.
Disk imaging is a great starting point. E.g. Macrium reflect (free).

For fast-changing critical data you can additionally use other solutions, perhaps based on synchronising changes. There are many backup programs available.

MS itself recommends using 3rd party solutions.

Mustachio · 24 Mar 2019

I'm going to use Macrium but want to understand how W10 works. Again, if I have this correctly W10 makes a Restore Point every day. Does System Protection do anything in addition to Restore points?

I'm guessing the install usb holds drivers for my (ancient) system w/is why it can be used as a recovery stick. Any guess re: how much space to reserve for Restore Points? What's the default? Love the fact this is showing 25GB OS and 40 for my old data, though that's w/o any programs installed.

Any thoughts on using Volume Shadow Copy in W10?

Thanks a lot for the pointers. Getting used to Macrium and glad I finally am putting it in place. Especially considering W10 updates.

dalchina · 24 Mar 2019

Again, if I have this correctly W10 makes a Restore Point every day.

No. But you can set up a schedule to do that (see Tutorials).

And SR is normally turned off after any feature update or in-place repair upgrade.

Macrium R makes use of VSS.

Ztruker · 24 Mar 2019

If you enable System Restore it will create a new restore point once a week. At least that's what it does on my system. I'm about ready to disable it and forget about it as the last two times I tried to use it, it failed. My Macrium backup has never failed me and I've used it many times because I like to play with stuff and often end up causing problems a quick restore is the easiest way to fix.

Like most of the regulars here, I have multiple levels of backup. Macrium runs Friday night at 8PM for my boot drive and 9PM from my critical data drives (D: E: F:). I backup to a 2nd internal 2TB HDD. I also run a program called Mirror Folder which does real time backup of my most important data every 2 to 4 hours to another internal 2TB hard drive as well as across my network to my other system.

Before every major Feature Update I also do a full backup of the same drives to my external HDD which is only connected when I want to backup to it.

Once you setup a good, automated backup system your data is as safe as it can be. It also gives me tremendous peace of mind. I've never lost any data, ever.

Steve C · 25 Mar 2019

I've disabled System Restore on all my PCs and now rely on Macrium Reflect. Restore failed to fix my PC the last time I had a serious problem but I restored the Reflect backup in a few minutes.

zbook · 25 Mar 2019

There are multiple methods to backup files.
The best software has a failure rate.
Having multiple recovery options is the best option for the unexpected failure.

There may be no restore points or the restore points may not work when you need them.

Reset save files may fail.

Startup repair may fail.

A backup image may fail.

Some may backup the users folders.
When needed a copy and paste can be performed

If you use a notebook system restore is valuable when traveling.
A backup image may be on another drive that is unavailable.

A system restore point is not created everyday unless you schedule it.
Create System Restore Point in Windows 10 | Tutorials

Windows use to have a reliable method to restore the registry or restore registry hives.
There is a bug in this method:
Windows 10 bug prevents Registry backup creation - gHacks Tech News

In most cases the backup images work.
Macrium is widely used in Ten Forums:
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect | Tutorials

Bree · 25 Mar 2019

zbook said:

If you use a notebook system restore is valuable when traveling. A backup image may be on another drive that is unavailable.

My solution to that, if you have sufficient free space on your drive, is to shrink C: and create a separate Data partition just to hold Macrium system images. If you also add Macrium to the boot menu you can (and I have) easily restore an image while travelling.

Of course, that is no protection against a drive failure so I also keep system images on an external HDD.

zbook · 25 Mar 2019

That's nice space permitting.
Another option could be the cloud.