Excessive Restore Used Disk Space

I recently discovered I had over 6 GB of used space on the
hard disk of my computer that's running Windows'ME.  It
hadn't displayed use of more than about 3 GB up to that
time.  I checked Disk usage Properties of all the folders
under the C:\ directory and could not account for the extra
3 GB.  So, I searched the Google Groups web site for posts
about excessive disk space in Windows'ME and came across a
very helpful prior post that resolved the problem.  It was
written by "Noel Paton" and a copy of it is appended to the
bottom of this post.  Thank you Noel!

When I first looked at File System Properties (after reading
Noel's post), the Restore disk space use was at the Max
setting of about 2.3 GB.  But, still much less than my
Restore folder's actual used space of about 5 GB (bulk of
the excessive used hard disk space).

After Unchecking the Restore Disable box and using the [OK]
and [Close] buttons before the 2nd rebooting, everything
worked out as was anticipated from Noel's post.  My Restore
folder's used space went from 5.7 GB down to about 7 MB and
my hard drive used space went from about 6.3 GB down to 1.33
GB.  I hadn't realized that much of my initial 3 GB, thought
of as authentic, was apparently already becoming excessive
System Restore usage.

Question:  When I first went to adjust the Restore disk
space use, it was defaulted to 200 MB at the Min position
with increments up to 400 MB at the Max position.  But, when
I Canceled and went back again to adjust it, it incremented
from Min 200 MB to 2343 MB at the Max end.  I couldn't get
it to go back to incrementing between 200 and 400 MB Max, so
I left it at the 200 MB Min.  Does anyone understand what's
going on there?

2nd Question:  What causes System Restore to generate such
huge (multi-GB's) of Restore data and/or what can be done to
avoid that?

3rd Question:  Does something like Noel's analysis and
solution (below) also apply to Windows'98?

--
randau
Oregon, USA

I read and post from the Google Groups web site using a Spam
collecting email address that I don't use for anything else.
So if someone wants to contact me, please cleanup and use
the Spam resistant Email address below.

            randau2...(at)...proaxis.com

Noel Paton's 2002 post:
=======================
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general
From: "Noel Paton" <NoelDPspaml...@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 05:39:47 -0000
Local: Wed, Nov 27 2002 10:39 pm
Subject: Re: Disk space misleading...

The probability here is that the rest is in 'hidden'
files/folders, which may not be counted unless you have the
option to view them set properly.  The fact tat this amounts
to 8GB, though, is somewhat worrying.  One possible reason
could be that System Restore has gone haywire, and is no
longer FIFOing properly.  Check that you have the options
set to view Hidden files/folders, and System files, then go
to the C:  drive in Explorer.  Right-click on the _Restore
folder icon, and select Properties.  What size does it
report?  Then (after closing Explorer etc) go to System
Properties|Performance|File System|Hard Disk - what is the
setting for 'System Restore disk space use'?  If the size of
the _Restore folder is greater than the allocation, then you
have a corrupted SR archive, and will have to reset it.

To reset System Restore:
System | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and
check "Disable System Restore", Apply and IMMEDIATELY
reboot.  This will flush your restore folder and erase all
checkpoints, then, System | Performance | File System |
Troubleshooting and uncheck "Disable System Restore", Apply
and again IMMEDIATELY reboot.  This should now automatically
create a new checkpoint immediately following the restart.
Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder,
System | Performance | File System | Hard Disk and adjust
the restore slider to your preferred setting.  Most people
operate fine with 200-300MB, in a 'stable' system.

HTH
--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2003, Win9x)