Make System Restore use Less Drive Space [Windows 7]


System Restore is a part of your Windows Operating System that was debuted in Windows Millenium and helps recovering your files and settings from previous copies. But this can eat up your drive space, similar to Dr.Watson. If it eats up way too much of your hard disk space, here’s the solution for it.

Tweaking System Restore to use Less Disk Space

Start by right-clicking your ‘Computer’ (My Computer, in older term) icon, choose Properties from the menu. This will take you to the ‘System’ window. Click ‘Advanced system settings’ on the left pane in the ‘System’ window.

By default, it should show you the ‘Advanced’ tab, click the ‘System Protection’ tab.

System Restore - System Protection Tab

Under ‘Protection Settings’, it should list your Hard Disk partitions. Select the drive for which you want to tweak System Restore usage.

Drives List in System Restore

After you have selected your partition, you should see a window similar to the one below

System Restore - System Protection Drive Space modification

Under ‘Disk Space Usage’, against ‘Max Usage’, use the slider to lower System Restore usage. The window also shows you the current usage.

More Tweaking

If you prefer, you can set System Restore to backup and restore only previous versions of files, or turn the restore feature off. Be careful when you choose to turn it off, because when your windows fails to work, you’ll only have to rely on System Restore to have your files restored easily and safely.