Restore Point Problems

[anon125]

As you can clearly see the restore points i have entered over the years have space allocated- i assume they are there.
but when i try to use them the restore point thingy cannot find them!
an ancient 2014 can be found but no 2017.
what do i do?
this computer has a D drive which is just for this stuff.
thanks all

 

[anon125]

doesn't anyone use windows 7 any more?

 

[TrainableMan]

You are mixing two different things.

Restore Points have to do with the state of the system at a point in time: the registry settings, installation logs (so it knows what updates & programs to uninstall & drivers to rollback to get you back to that point in time), etc.

The system image/backups are the actual files on the computer. A system image can be used to restore the hard drive files, while the backups would mostly be your data files (documents/photos/music/etc) that change.
NOTE: Personally I had lots of problems with the built-in Windows 7 back-ups running for hours & hours & never completing so I would never recommend it as a back-up solution. Our Freeware DB back-up & recovery section offers alternatives to the Windows 7 back-up system and many external hard drives you buy also ship with back-up software. (But again this would have nothing to do with your restore points)

 

[anon125]

thanks
i do not use windows for backing up files
i just need to get the system restore to work.

 

[TrainableMan]

based on those file sizes you do, or at least have in the past. But if you turned it off then it is likely out of date.

So are you trying to do a system restore or restore from a restore point, they are very different things?

Restoring to an old restore point just takes your registry back to a previous point, rolls back any drivers that were installed since and uninstalls any programs that were installed after that restore point was made.

A system restore is much more destructive as it's goal is to take your entire computer back to an older time; and I'm guessing from what you said if you haven't been using back-up anymore, that it is not current. If the system tells you it can't be used then you probably can't so you will want to look at other options, such as backing up your data and reinstalling Win 7. Assuming you can find a disk & know your product key (if the system still boots you can probably get software that can show you the key & even back up the tokens to reactivate a new install).

 

[anon125]

i just want to set the computer back to say last december. to one of the control points that it has allocated space for
thanks
i have never used windows backup. just systems restore points

 

[TrainableMan]

The December restore point is from 3 years ago: 2014, based on the note it is the same time the system restore was created. Other than that it looks like the oldest restore point you have available is March of this year.

The back-up files have nothing to do with your restore points, they would be your data. And it won't help with your restore points but you definitely ARE using Windows back-up because in the backups list it shows a back-up for Apr 1, 2018 backup.

 

[anon125]

thanks

 

[anon125]

the image with 'select a backup period to delete' if that is NOT system restores, then what is it?
i don't knowingly do any other backups.
maybe space wise it is crowding out the system restore point?
thanks for your patience!

 

[TrainableMan]

Your backups would be your data so you can free up hard drive space by deleting older ones but again it won't directly effect restore points, just overall disk space.

To allocate more space for restore points go to Control Panel > System > System Protection. Click once on the C: drive in the window to select it & then click the Configure option below. Move the disk space usage right to allot more space to restore points.
... See video showing how >>HERE<< ...

 

[anon125]

i have allocated 70% or 326 or so gb
thanks

so backups are NOT restore points? what are they?
thanks

 

[TrainableMan]

Backups are normally your data: like excel spreadsheets, word documents, etc.

Say for example you deleted several rows from an excel spreadsheet and you figure out later you need those rows back. If that file was backed up before the rows were deleted then you could restore that file from the backup.

 

[anon125]

thank- i can delete them all

 

[TrainableMan]

well if you are using another backup method, then I would delete those & also disable future backups in Windows Backup

 

[anon125]

thanks for your help

 

[anon125]

how do i tell the computer not to keep backing things up - but keep systems restore?
thanks

 

[TrainableMan]

control panel > System & Security > Backup
click Turn OFF schedule (depending on your UAC settings you may have to continue or if you are not an admin you will need to provide an admin password)

 

[anon125]

thanks
i think it already is- but i will check. i am admin

 

[anon125]

T18 was saving it the first of every month!
as it was filling up the same area as the system restore points - the system restore quit working- no space. now that is working on the T18.
the system restore has quit working on the T17 (single drive) the saving thing has never been set on on that drive.
T17 keeps forgetting it had restore points.
the
control panel > System & Security > Backup
click Turn OFF schedule
has never been turned on. (the software looks a bit different too)
how do i find where the T17 saves things? see attached. is this saving files or system restore points?

your knowledgeable help is very much appreciated
thanks

 

[TrainableMan]

It is set to save restore points & the files it would need if you did a restore. It says you allow 400GB & you are only using 76MB so you have plenty of space for the restore points & related files, so I don't know why it wouldn't be saving them.