DIY System Restore With Saved History

As many have complained about, Vista System Restore deletes old
restore points to make way for new ones.

We'd like a way to preserve restore points indefinitely, save them to
removeable storage, and rollback anytime to any prior restore point.

So, i'm exploring this. It cannot be done with Vista System Restore.
How can it be done?

Results of my research below.

 

Cannot Use Ghosting, Backup, or Reinstall Windows

* Please don't suggest ghosting, normal file-backups, or reinstalling
Windows.

-Backups- Normal file backups have nothing to do with System State.

-Ghosting- the problem with ghosting is that the rollback of a ghost
rolls back user files as well, which we don't want. the advantage of
System State restore is that it preserves new user files. Ghosting
could only restore a prior System State, while preserving user files,
if the user files are stored on a hard disk separate from the
operating system. I don't have that luxury.

-Reinstalling- Reinstalling Windows is not an option, because it would
not include all my favorite software, user accounts, and preferred
config settings. Reinstalling Windows is time-consuming. If
reinstalling Windows was a smart solution to a minor corruption in the
OS caused by bad software or a virus, then Microsoft would not have
created System Restore.

 

What's In A Restore Point?

I found this:

a restore point contains

* boot files (i need to find out exactly which ones)
* COM+ class registration database
* The registry
* Event logs
* System files (i need to find out exactly which ones)
* Windows File Protection files that are stored in \dllcache (all
of them?)
* IIS configuration files (i need to find out exactly which ones)
* Windows Management Instrumentation Database
* some weird system files with filename extensions from a long
list of "monitored extensions" (i need to find out exactly which ones)
* local user profiles.

i don't know if this list is correct or complete.

 

NTBackup?

I read about ntbackup, which is included on the Windows XP CD. It does
include a System State backup option. It is not officially supported
on Vista. It might work-- I have to experiment. Some caveats:

ntbackup requires the Removable Storage Management/ Removable Storage
Service feature to be enabled in Vista. This feature is not turned on
by default. To do this, go to Control Panel | Programs and Features |
Turn Windows features on or off, and select Removable Storage
Management.

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Must turn off "use Shadow Copy" in backup advanced options

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Differential restore points wont work on vista system files because
Vista seems to block ntbackup.exe and even administrators from
changing the archive attribute flag in the system32, Windows and other
security protected folders.

==========

 

Where Are Restore Points Stored?

Where does Vista System Restore save its restore points? Perhaps it
would be possible to save them to removeable storage before Vista
deletes them.

 

Backing Up COM+ Registration Database?

if i have to accomplish this manually, then i need to figure out how
to backup and restore all of the individual items normally included in
System State (list above).

For example, the COM+ class registration database. The Component
Services console (comexp.msc) does not have import/export function.
How then could one backup and restore the COM+ registration database?

 

Backing up Registry

Backing up and restoring the Registry seems like it will be easy.

There is a tool called erunt which does this.

But why bother? Wouldn't regedit's export/import function accomplish
the same thing?

 

Ghost the System & Programs Folders?

Could one achieve this entire goal simply by ghosting just the Windows
System folder and Program Files folder?

One drawback of this method is that my Windows folder is 16 gigs and
my Programs folder is another gig, so that's a lot of storage space (4
DVD's). Still, if it works, it would probably be the easiest, simplest
solution.