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System Restore Size....HDD

Discussion in 'Windows Vista' started by denmarfl, Jun 26, 2009.

Page 1 of 2
  1. denmarfl

    denmarfl Guest

    Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing System
    Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where Restore
    points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now suddenly
    over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD space
    Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off, which
    deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than starts
    over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day causing
    this......
     
    denmarfl, Jun 26, 2009
    #1
  3. Bob

    Bob Guest

    Got Norton?

    "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing System
    > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where
    > Restore
    > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now suddenly
    > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD
    > space
    > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off, which
    > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than starts
    > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day causing
    > this...... <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    Bob, Jun 26, 2009
    #2
  4. denmarfl

    denmarfl Guest

    NO......

    "Bob" wrote:
    <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Got Norton?
    >
    > "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    > > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing System
    > > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where
    > > Restore
    > > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now suddenly
    > > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD
    > > space
    > > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off, which
    > > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than starts
    > > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day causing
    > > this...... <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >
    >
    > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    denmarfl, Jun 26, 2009
    #3
  5. Peter Foldes

    Peter Foldes Guest

    See the following

    --
    Peter

    Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

    "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing System
    > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where Restore
    > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now suddenly
    > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD space
    > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off, which
    > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than starts
    > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day causing
    > this...... <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    Peter Foldes, Jun 26, 2009
    #4
  6. Jim

    Jim Guest

    On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:22:01 -0700, denmarfl
    <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
    <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    >Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing System
    >Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where Restore
    >points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now suddenly
    >over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD space
    >Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off, which
    >deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than starts
    >over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day causing
    >this......<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

    Why do you keep asking the same question - 2-3 weeks ? Google/Bing for
    the ERUNT system .
     
    Jim, Jun 26, 2009
    #5
  7. denmarfl

    denmarfl Guest

    Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to determine that it
    was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB of HDD
    space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a whole lot
    of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be created
    in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, it a
    resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has the
    answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it started to
    save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go a week
    and not lose 1GB. I have not installed\chnaged or altered anything on my PC
    so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully someone
    knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the abnormally
    large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) can be
    altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 mos.....without the
    large File(s).

    "Peter Foldes" wrote:
    <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > See the following
    >
    > --
    > Peter
    >
    > Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    > Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
    >
    > "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    > > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing System
    > > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where Restore
    > > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now suddenly
    > > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD space
    > > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off, which
    > > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than starts
    > > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day causing
    > > this...... <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >
    > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    denmarfl, Jun 26, 2009
    #6
  8. Brink

    Brink Guest

    Hello Denmarfl,

    I'm not sure what is causing your System Restore to fill up the max
    space so fast. Vista will usually only create restore points
    automatically when you install such items as drivers, programs, or make
    changes to the system.

    This tutorial below will show you how to see what you max storage size
    for restore points is, and to adjust it if needed.



    Hope this helps,
    Shawn

    denmarfl;1075630 Wrote: <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to determine
    > that it
    > was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB of
    > HDD
    > space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a
    > whole lot
    > of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
    > created
    > in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, it
    > a
    > resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has the
    > answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it
    > started to
    > save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go a
    > week
    > and not lose 1GB. I have not installedchnaged or altered anything on
    > my PC
    > so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully
    > someone
    > knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
    > abnormally
    > large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) can
    > be
    > altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 mos.....without
    > the
    > large File(s).
    >
    > "Peter Foldes" wrote:<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro--><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    > > > >
    > > > See the following
    > > > 'John Barnett's Windows XP Help and Support'<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    > > (    )<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    > > > --
    > > > Peter
    > > >
    > > > Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    > > > Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    > > acknowledged.<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    > > >
    > > > "denmarfl" <denmarfl@xxxxxx> wrote in message
    > > > news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@xxxxxx> > > > >
    > > > > > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
    > > > System
    > > > > > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
    > > > where Restore
    > > > > > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    > > > suddenly
    > > > > > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of
    > > > HDD space
    > > > > > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
    > > > which
    > > > > > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
    > > > starts
    > > > > > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    > > > causing
    > > > > > this......> > > >
    > > >
    > > > > ><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->


    --
    Brink

    '*MS MVP - Windows Desktop Experience*'
    (    )
    *There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask
    them.*
    '*::Windows 7 Forums::*' (    ) *and*
    '*::Vista Forums::*' (    )
    *Please post feedback to help others.*
     
    Brink, Jun 26, 2009
    #7
  9. RalfG

    RalfG Guest

    I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the pagefile.sys file
    (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved the page
    file to a non-monitored partition.

    "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to determine that
    > it
    > was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB of HDD
    > space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a whole
    > lot
    > of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
    > created
    > in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, it a
    > resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has the
    > answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it started
    > to
    > save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go a week
    > and not lose 1GB. I have not installedchnaged or altered anything on my
    > PC
    > so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully someone
    > knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
    > abnormally
    > large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) can be
    > altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 mos.....without the
    > large File(s).
    >
    > "Peter Foldes" wrote:
    ><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >> See the following
    >>
    >> --
    >> Peter
    >>
    >> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    >> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
    >>
    >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    >> > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing System
    >> > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where
    >> > Restore
    >> > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    >> > suddenly
    >> > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD
    >> > space
    >> > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
    >> > which
    >> > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
    >> > starts
    >> > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    >> > causing
    >> > this......<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >>
    >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    RalfG, Jun 27, 2009
    #8
  10. denmarfl

    denmarfl Guest

    Lets see if I understand, you moved the pagefile to another partition....so
    it continues to serve its purpose and does not get saved with each restore
    Point.

    What causes this file to grew to such a large file, and, in my case, almost
    overnight without me doing anything, ie, adding a new program, changes, etc?

    It just seems to me, whatever has caused this file to grew to such a larger
    size happened overnight and whatever it is that is included in the pagefile,
    my PC ran fine for 20 months without it. Is there not a way to ID what
    caused the file to grew so large?

    Lastly, is there a link to provide step-by-step instructions to do what you
    did?

    "RalfG" wrote:
    <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the pagefile.sys file
    > (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved the page
    > file to a non-monitored partition.
    >
    > "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    > > Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to determine that
    > > it
    > > was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB of HDD
    > > space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a whole
    > > lot
    > > of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
    > > created
    > > in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, it a
    > > resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has the
    > > answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it started
    > > to
    > > save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go a week
    > > and not lose 1GB. I have not installedchnaged or altered anything on my
    > > PC
    > > so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully someone
    > > knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
    > > abnormally
    > > large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) can be
    > > altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 mos.....without the
    > > large File(s).
    > >
    > > "Peter Foldes" wrote:
    > ><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    > >> See the following
    > >>
    > >> --
    > >> Peter
    > >>
    > >> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    > >> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
    > >>
    > >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > >> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    > >> > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing System
    > >> > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where
    > >> > Restore
    > >> > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    > >> > suddenly
    > >> > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD
    > >> > space
    > >> > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
    > >> > which
    > >> > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
    > >> > starts
    > >> > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    > >> > causing
    > >> > this......
    > >>
    > >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >
    >
    > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    denmarfl, Jun 27, 2009
    #9
  11. Bob

    Bob Guest

    Which AV program are you running?

    "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    news:8B8CF5B6-B971-444B-8636-D9BDE73DD5A0@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > NO......
    >
    > "Bob" wrote:
    ><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >> Got Norton?
    >>
    >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    >> > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing System
    >> > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where
    >> > Restore
    >> > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    >> > suddenly
    >> > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD
    >> > space
    >> > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
    >> > which
    >> > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
    >> > starts
    >> > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    >> > causing
    >> > this......<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >>
    >>
    >> <!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    Bob, Jun 27, 2009
    #10
  12. mazorj

    mazorj Guest

    Bob - I'm still struggling with some unknown process that ate 200 GB
    of empty space on C: after the 6/10/09 MS downloads. I use NIS 2009.
    What is there about NIS and space-eating files that made you ask
    whether the OP was using Norton?


    "Bob" <bob@nowhere.com> wrote in message
    news:umUQ%23N09JHA.1492@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Which AV program are you running?
    >
    > "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > news:8B8CF5B6-B971-444B-8636-D9BDE73DD5A0@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >> NO......
    >>
    >> "Bob" wrote:
    >><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    >>> Got Norton?
    >>>
    >>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >>> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    >>> > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
    >>> > System
    >>> > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
    >>> > where
    >>> > Restore
    >>> > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and
    >>> > now suddenly
    >>> > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB
    >>> > of HDD
    >>> > space
    >>> > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it
    >>> > off, which
    >>> > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process
    >>> > than starts
    >>> > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1
    >>> > day causing
    >>> > this......
    >>>
    >>>
    >>><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >
    > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    mazorj, Jun 27, 2009
    #11
  13. RalfG

    RalfG Guest

    The pagefile (swapfile) grows as you use apps until it reaches its optimum
    size. That size is either the system managed default (about 3.4GB on mine
    currently) or some value that you assign manually yourself. I'm assuming
    that loading the apps you habitually use into the swap file likely causes
    the fast growth. That in itself isn't the big issue to me. What I don't
    understand is why pagefile.sys is included in System Restore points in the
    first place. Serves no practical use as far as I can see and it puts a huge
    hit on how many restore points can be created.

    The default location of the paging file is on the system drive but you can
    set it to be on any of the existing partitions/drives. There are
    instructions for changing the paging file size in Windows Help and support.
    Just search Paging file in Help. Moving the file is done in the same place.

    Instructions for moving the page file here:



    or

    -- If you want to change the size and/or move pagefile.sys:

    Open the System applet in Control Panel
    Click on the Advanced tab
    Click on the Performance -Settings button
    Click on the Advanced tab again
    Click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section
    Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives..."

    Click on each drive that is listed in turn and change its page file settings
    to your preference, or select No Paging file for a particular drive. Click
    Set for each drive that you change.
    On your system drive change the setting to No paging file and click Set.
    Enable a paging file on the drive of your choice. You can either select
    Custom size for for the page file (a range of sizes actually, min to max) or
    let the System manage the file size. When finished with the settings,
    reboot to initiate the changes.

    After you're done and rebooted the paging file will be in the new location
    and System Restore will not be including it in any subsequent restore
    points. At that point I deleted all of my existing restore points that had
    the old stored page files from the system drive. (turn off System Restore to
    delete restore points, then re-enable System Restore)


    "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    news:7E0D4A34-AACD-4BAA-B230-BE41BDCD7A24@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Lets see if I understand, you moved the pagefile to another
    > partition....so
    > it continues to serve its purpose and does not get saved with each restore
    > Point.
    >
    > What causes this file to grew to such a large file, and, in my case,
    > almost
    > overnight without me doing anything, ie, adding a new program, changes,
    > etc?
    >
    > It just seems to me, whatever has caused this file to grew to such a
    > larger
    > size happened overnight and whatever it is that is included in the
    > pagefile,
    > my PC ran fine for 20 months without it. Is there not a way to ID what
    > caused the file to grew so large?
    >
    > Lastly, is there a link to provide step-by-step instructions to do what
    > you
    > did?
    >
    > "RalfG" wrote:
    ><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >> I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the pagefile.sys
    >> file
    >> (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved the
    >> page
    >> file to a non-monitored partition.
    >>
    >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >> news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    >> > Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to determine
    >> > that
    >> > it
    >> > was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB of
    >> > HDD
    >> > space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a
    >> > whole
    >> > lot
    >> > of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
    >> > created
    >> > in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, it
    >> > a
    >> > resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has the
    >> > answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it
    >> > started
    >> > to
    >> > save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go a
    >> > week
    >> > and not lose 1GB. I have not installedchnaged or altered anything on
    >> > my
    >> > PC
    >> > so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully
    >> > someone
    >> > knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
    >> > abnormally
    >> > large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) can
    >> > be
    >> > altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 mos.....without
    >> > the
    >> > large File(s).
    >> >
    >> > "Peter Foldes" wrote:
    >> >
    >> >> See the following
    >> >>
    >> >> --
    >> >> Peter
    >> >>
    >> >> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    >> >> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
    >> >>
    >> >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >> >> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    >> >> > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
    >> >> > System
    >> >> > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
    >> >> > where
    >> >> > Restore
    >> >> > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    >> >> > suddenly
    >> >> > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of
    >> >> > HDD
    >> >> > space
    >> >> > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
    >> >> > which
    >> >> > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
    >> >> > starts
    >> >> > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    >> >> > causing
    >> >> > this......
    >> >>
    >> >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >>
    >>
    >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    RalfG, Jun 28, 2009
    #12
  14. Bob

    Bob Guest

    Norton is known to cause many problems which don’t always appear
    immediately.

    "mazorj" <mazorj@verizon.net> wrote in message
    news:O5e0PL29JHA.5704@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Bob - I'm still struggling with some unknown process that ate 200 GB of
    > empty space on C: after the 6/10/09 MS downloads. I use NIS 2009. What is
    > there about NIS and space-eating files that made you ask whether the OP
    > was using Norton?
    >
    >
    > "Bob" <bob@nowhere.com> wrote in message
    > news:umUQ%23N09JHA.1492@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >> Which AV program are you running?
    >>
    >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >> news:8B8CF5B6-B971-444B-8636-D9BDE73DD5A0@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    >>> NO......
    >>>
    >>> "Bob" wrote:
    >>>
    >>>> Got Norton?
    >>>>
    >>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >>>> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    >>>> > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
    >>>> > System
    >>>> > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years where
    >>>> > Restore
    >>>> > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    >>>> > suddenly
    >>>> > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of HDD
    >>>> > space
    >>>> > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
    >>>> > which
    >>>> > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
    >>>> > starts
    >>>> > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    >>>> > causing
    >>>> > this......
    >>>>
    >>>>
    >>>><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >>
    >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >
    > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    Bob, Jun 28, 2009
    #13
  15. mazorj

    mazorj Guest

    "Bob" <bob@nowhere.com> wrote in message
    news:O7vzXPA%23JHA.4900@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Norton is known to cause many problems which don’t always appear
    > immediately.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

    Okay. My problem turned out to be unrelated to Norton.
    <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > "mazorj" <mazorj@verizon.net> wrote in message
    > news:O5e0PL29JHA.5704@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >> Bob - I'm still struggling with some unknown process that ate 200
    >> GB of empty space on C: after the 6/10/09 MS downloads. I use NIS
    >> 2009. What is there about NIS and space-eating files that made you
    >> ask whether the OP was using Norton?
    >>
    >> "Bob" <bob@nowhere.com> wrote in message
    >> news:umUQ%23N09JHA.1492@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    >>> Which AV program are you running?
    >>>
    >>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >>> news:8B8CF5B6-B971-444B-8636-D9BDE73DD5A0@microsoft.com...
    >>>> NO......
    >>>>
    >>>> "Bob" wrote:
    >>>>
    >>>>> Got Norton?
    >>>>>
    >>>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >>>>> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    >>>>> > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is
    >>>>> > causing System
    >>>>> > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2
    >>>>> > years where
    >>>>> > Restore
    >>>>> > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and
    >>>>> > now suddenly
    >>>>> > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB
    >>>>> > of HDD
    >>>>> > space
    >>>>> > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it
    >>>>> > off, which
    >>>>> > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process
    >>>>> > than starts
    >>>>> > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1
    >>>>> > day causing
    >>>>> > this......
    >>>>>
    >>>>>
    >>>>>
    >>>
    >>><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >>
    >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >
    > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    mazorj, Jun 28, 2009
    #14
  16. denmarfl

    denmarfl Guest

    Your reply was very helpful; Thanks

    Reviewing the article at the link provided it also outlines having 2 Page
    Files to "speed up you PC"? Now this seems to work against moving the Page
    File to another HDD. I do have a 2nd Internal HDD (E:\).... so if a user
    were to use 2 Page Files, 1 would save on the C:\ the other on the E:\
    file....wouldn't both page files be the same size...and therefore the issue
    that I am experiencing, that is, using up 3GB HHD space daily on Restore
    Points (Vista creates a "System Restore" point any day when no other activity
    creates a Restore point)....that issue would contine.....since both Page
    Files would be the same size and 1 would be on the C:\ drive?

    I have not changed the Page File to my E:\ HDD as yet. The concern is, if I
    had to use a prior Restore Point, wouldn't that restore point need the Page
    File as part of it to restore my PC back to the Restore Point\Date selected
    and since the Page File would not be part of the restore Point....my PC might
    not restore properly?

    "RalfG" wrote:
    <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > The pagefile (swapfile) grows as you use apps until it reaches its optimum
    > size. That size is either the system managed default (about 3.4GB on mine
    > currently) or some value that you assign manually yourself. I'm assuming
    > that loading the apps you habitually use into the swap file likely causes
    > the fast growth. That in itself isn't the big issue to me. What I don't
    > understand is why pagefile.sys is included in System Restore points in the
    > first place. Serves no practical use as far as I can see and it puts a huge
    > hit on how many restore points can be created.
    >
    > The default location of the paging file is on the system drive but you can
    > set it to be on any of the existing partitions/drives. There are
    > instructions for changing the paging file size in Windows Help and support.
    > Just search Paging file in Help. Moving the file is done in the same place.
    >
    > Instructions for moving the page file here:
    >
    >
    >
    > or
    >
    > -- If you want to change the size and/or move pagefile.sys:
    >
    > Open the System applet in Control Panel
    > Click on the Advanced tab
    > Click on the Performance -Settings button
    > Click on the Advanced tab again
    > Click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section
    > Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives..."
    >
    > Click on each drive that is listed in turn and change its page file settings
    > to your preference, or select No Paging file for a particular drive. Click
    > Set for each drive that you change.
    > On your system drive change the setting to No paging file and click Set.
    > Enable a paging file on the drive of your choice. You can either select
    > Custom size for for the page file (a range of sizes actually, min to max) or
    > let the System manage the file size. When finished with the settings,
    > reboot to initiate the changes.
    >
    > After you're done and rebooted the paging file will be in the new location
    > and System Restore will not be including it in any subsequent restore
    > points. At that point I deleted all of my existing restore points that had
    > the old stored page files from the system drive. (turn off System Restore to
    > delete restore points, then re-enable System Restore)
    >
    >
    > "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > news:7E0D4A34-AACD-4BAA-B230-BE41BDCD7A24@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    > > Lets see if I understand, you moved the pagefile to another
    > > partition....so
    > > it continues to serve its purpose and does not get saved with each restore
    > > Point.
    > >
    > > What causes this file to grew to such a large file, and, in my case,
    > > almost
    > > overnight without me doing anything, ie, adding a new program, changes,
    > > etc?
    > >
    > > It just seems to me, whatever has caused this file to grew to such a
    > > larger
    > > size happened overnight and whatever it is that is included in the
    > > pagefile,
    > > my PC ran fine for 20 months without it. Is there not a way to ID what
    > > caused the file to grew so large?
    > >
    > > Lastly, is there a link to provide step-by-step instructions to do what
    > > you
    > > did?
    > >
    > > "RalfG" wrote:
    > ><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    > >> I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the pagefile.sys
    > >> file
    > >> (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved the
    > >> page
    > >> file to a non-monitored partition.
    > >>
    > >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > >> news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@microsoft.com...
    > >> > Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to determine
    > >> > that
    > >> > it
    > >> > was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB of
    > >> > HDD
    > >> > space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a
    > >> > whole
    > >> > lot
    > >> > of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
    > >> > created
    > >> > in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, it
    > >> > a
    > >> > resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has the
    > >> > answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it
    > >> > started
    > >> > to
    > >> > save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go a
    > >> > week
    > >> > and not lose 1GB. I have not installedchnaged or altered anything on
    > >> > my
    > >> > PC
    > >> > so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully
    > >> > someone
    > >> > knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
    > >> > abnormally
    > >> > large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) can
    > >> > be
    > >> > altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 mos.....without
    > >> > the
    > >> > large File(s).
    > >> >
    > >> > "Peter Foldes" wrote:
    > >> >
    > >> >> See the following
    > >> >>
    > >> >> --
    > >> >> Peter
    > >> >>
    > >> >> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    > >> >> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
    > >> >>
    > >> >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > >> >> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    > >> >> > Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
    > >> >> > System
    > >> >> > Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
    > >> >> > where
    > >> >> > Restore
    > >> >> > points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    > >> >> > suddenly
    > >> >> > over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of
    > >> >> > HDD
    > >> >> > space
    > >> >> > Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
    > >> >> > which
    > >> >> > deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
    > >> >> > starts
    > >> >> > over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    > >> >> > causing
    > >> >> > this......
    > >> >>
    > >> >>
    > >>
    > >>
    > >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >
    >
    > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    denmarfl, Jun 30, 2009
    #15
  17. RalfG

    RalfG Guest

    denmarfl wrote:<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > Your reply was very helpful; Thanks
    >
    > Reviewing the article at the link provided it also outlines having 2 Page
    > Files to "speed up you PC"? Now this seems to work against moving the Page
    > File to another HDD. I do have a 2nd Internal HDD (E:).... so if a user
    > were to use 2 Page Files, 1 would save on the C: the other on the E:
    > file....wouldn't both page files be the same size...and therefore the issue
    > that I am experiencing, that is, using up 3GB HHD space daily on Restore
    > Points (Vista creates a "System Restore" point any day when no other activity
    > creates a Restore point)....that issue would contine.....since both Page
    > Files would be the same size and 1 would be on the C: drive?
    >
    > I have not changed the Page File to my E: HDD as yet. The concern is, if I
    > had to use a prior Restore Point, wouldn't that restore point need the Page
    > File as part of it to restore my PC back to the Restore PointDate selected
    > and since the Page File would not be part of the restore Point....my PC might
    > not restore properly?
    >
    > "RalfG" wrote:
    > <!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >> The pagefile (swapfile) grows as you use apps until it reaches its optimum
    >> size. That size is either the system managed default (about 3.4GB on mine
    >> currently) or some value that you assign manually yourself. I'm assuming
    >> that loading the apps you habitually use into the swap file likely causes
    >> the fast growth. That in itself isn't the big issue to me. What I don't
    >> understand is why pagefile.sys is included in System Restore points in the
    >> first place. Serves no practical use as far as I can see and it puts a huge
    >> hit on how many restore points can be created.
    >>
    >> The default location of the paging file is on the system drive but you can
    >> set it to be on any of the existing partitions/drives. There are
    >> instructions for changing the paging file size in Windows Help and support.
    >> Just search Paging file in Help. Moving the file is done in the same place.
    >>
    >> Instructions for moving the page file here:
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >> or
    >>
    >> -- If you want to change the size and/or move pagefile.sys:
    >>
    >> Open the System applet in Control Panel
    >> Click on the Advanced tab
    >> Click on the Performance -Settings button
    >> Click on the Advanced tab again
    >> Click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section
    >> Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives..."
    >>
    >> Click on each drive that is listed in turn and change its page file settings
    >> to your preference, or select No Paging file for a particular drive. Click
    >> Set for each drive that you change.
    >> On your system drive change the setting to No paging file and click Set.
    >> Enable a paging file on the drive of your choice. You can either select
    >> Custom size for for the page file (a range of sizes actually, min to max) or
    >> let the System manage the file size. When finished with the settings,
    >> reboot to initiate the changes.
    >>
    >> After you're done and rebooted the paging file will be in the new location
    >> and System Restore will not be including it in any subsequent restore
    >> points. At that point I deleted all of my existing restore points that had
    >> the old stored page files from the system drive. (turn off System Restore to
    >> delete restore points, then re-enable System Restore)
    >>
    >>
    >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >> news:7E0D4A34-AACD-4BAA-B230-BE41BDCD7A24@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    >>> Lets see if I understand, you moved the pagefile to another
    >>> partition....so
    >>> it continues to serve its purpose and does not get saved with each restore
    >>> Point.
    >>>
    >>> What causes this file to grew to such a large file, and, in my case,
    >>> almost
    >>> overnight without me doing anything, ie, adding a new program, changes,
    >>> etc?
    >>>
    >>> It just seems to me, whatever has caused this file to grew to such a
    >>> larger
    >>> size happened overnight and whatever it is that is included in the
    >>> pagefile,
    >>> my PC ran fine for 20 months without it. Is there not a way to ID what
    >>> caused the file to grew so large?
    >>>
    >>> Lastly, is there a link to provide step-by-step instructions to do what
    >>> you
    >>> did?
    >>>
    >>> "RalfG" wrote:
    >>>
    >>>> I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the pagefile.sys
    >>>> file
    >>>> (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved the
    >>>> page
    >>>> file to a non-monitored partition.
    >>>>
    >>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >>>> news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@microsoft.com...
    >>>>> Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to determine
    >>>>> that
    >>>>> it
    >>>>> was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB of
    >>>>> HDD
    >>>>> space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a
    >>>>> whole
    >>>>> lot
    >>>>> of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
    >>>>> created
    >>>>> in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, it
    >>>>> a
    >>>>> resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has the
    >>>>> answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it
    >>>>> started
    >>>>> to
    >>>>> save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go a
    >>>>> week
    >>>>> and not lose 1GB. I have not installedchnaged or altered anything on
    >>>>> my
    >>>>> PC
    >>>>> so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully
    >>>>> someone
    >>>>> knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
    >>>>> abnormally
    >>>>> large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) can
    >>>>> be
    >>>>> altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 mos.....without
    >>>>> the
    >>>>> large File(s).
    >>>>>
    >>>>> "Peter Foldes" wrote:
    >>>>>
    >>>>>> See the following
    >>>>>>
    >>>>>> --
    >>>>>> Peter
    >>>>>>
    >>>>>> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    >>>>>> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
    >>>>>>
    >>>>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >>>>>> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    >>>>>>> Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
    >>>>>>> System
    >>>>>>> Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
    >>>>>>> where
    >>>>>>> Restore
    >>>>>>> points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    >>>>>>> suddenly
    >>>>>>> over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of
    >>>>>>> HDD
    >>>>>>> space
    >>>>>>> Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
    >>>>>>> which
    >>>>>>> deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
    >>>>>>> starts
    >>>>>>> over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    >>>>>>> causing
    >>>>>>> this......
    >>>>>>
    >>>>
    >>>><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >>
    >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

    I deleted all the old restore points immediately after moving the page
    file so that I wouldn't run into the issue of having my changes undone
    the moment I did a system restore with one of those old points. In my
    case the restore points were essentially redundant since none of them
    was more than 3 days old and all were essentially identical anyway. The
    whole point of the excercise was to free up the space that all those
    copies of pagefile.sys were consuming so that over time I could actually
    start creating a useful collection of restore points again rather than
    be limited by that handful of huge sized points which were only a few
    days old at most.

    As far as I can tell the page file is irrelevent to the actual system
    restoration. I've only needed to do one system restore since moving
    pagefile.sys and that went smoothly. AFAIK the only useful data that the
    pagefile contains pertains to programs that are actually running in real
    time, the rest being essentially a cache of software that you are likely
    to be using during any given working session on the computer. There's
    nothing in it that I know of which pertains to the actual
    re-installation of the OS or software. The only slight benefit from
    including the pagefile in SR, as far as I can see, would be to have a
    ready to use intact cache matching the software as it exists in the
    newly restored sytem. The alternatives would be that either the
    non-restored pagefile might contain software that was removed from the
    system during the restoration or the pagefile might need to be recreated
    from scratch after a restoration. From my point of view neither of those
    two scenarios is as bad as being limited to 5 or 6 system restore points
    that might only be 2 or 3 day old duplicates of each other and wasting
    20-30GB of SR harddrive space to hold them.

    As far as concerns about using multiple page files, I think that amounts
    to a bit of a red herring as far as we are concerned. IINM neither of us
    knows enough about the workings of Windows WRT swapfile usage to make
    any worthwhile changes to the system default of letting Windows manage
    the pagefile. If it wasn't for the drive space issues affecting my
    system restore points I wouldn't even have bothered moving the pagefile
    to another drive, although the drive it is on now is slightly faster
    than the system drive so there is that benefit.

    Splitting the single file into multiple parts might be useful if drive
    space is limited on your system drive (not able to create the optimum
    sized swapfile) or if for some reason you wanted an especially large
    swapfile. We could specify an arbitrary size for the pagefile, or
    pagefiles, but I think it would be largely a waste of time and effort
    for little or no real benefit. IMO system tweaks that save minutes of
    operating time are worthwhile doing, those that save imperceptible
    microseconds of data loading times aren't.
     
    RalfG, Jul 1, 2009
    #16
  18. denmarfl

    denmarfl Guest

    If I understand, once the page file is changed to another HDD, it not only
    doesn't save with C:\ drive Restore Points, but, it also no longer is
    updated\kept current. I did contact Microsoft FREE support for Vista SP2 who
    advised the size of the Page File is as a result of changes included in SP2.
    Further they advised the Page File to perform its intended role must be in
    the Root Drive......

    "RalfG" wrote:
    <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > denmarfl wrote:<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    > > Your reply was very helpful; Thanks
    > >
    > > Reviewing the article at the link provided it also outlines having 2 Page
    > > Files to "speed up you PC"? Now this seems to work against moving the Page
    > > File to another HDD. I do have a 2nd Internal HDD (E:).... so if a user
    > > were to use 2 Page Files, 1 would save on the C: the other on the E:
    > > file....wouldn't both page files be the same size...and therefore the issue
    > > that I am experiencing, that is, using up 3GB HHD space daily on Restore
    > > Points (Vista creates a "System Restore" point any day when no other activity
    > > creates a Restore point)....that issue would contine.....since both Page
    > > Files would be the same size and 1 would be on the C: drive?
    > >
    > > I have not changed the Page File to my E: HDD as yet. The concern is, if I
    > > had to use a prior Restore Point, wouldn't that restore point need the Page
    > > File as part of it to restore my PC back to the Restore PointDate selected
    > > and since the Page File would not be part of the restore Point....my PC might
    > > not restore properly?
    > >
    > > "RalfG" wrote:
    > > <!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    > >> The pagefile (swapfile) grows as you use apps until it reaches its optimum
    > >> size. That size is either the system managed default (about 3.4GB on mine
    > >> currently) or some value that you assign manually yourself. I'm assuming
    > >> that loading the apps you habitually use into the swap file likely causes
    > >> the fast growth. That in itself isn't the big issue to me. What I don't
    > >> understand is why pagefile.sys is included in System Restore points in the
    > >> first place. Serves no practical use as far as I can see and it puts a huge
    > >> hit on how many restore points can be created.
    > >>
    > >> The default location of the paging file is on the system drive but you can
    > >> set it to be on any of the existing partitions/drives. There are
    > >> instructions for changing the paging file size in Windows Help and support.
    > >> Just search Paging file in Help. Moving the file is done in the same place.
    > >>
    > >> Instructions for moving the page file here:
    > >>
    > >>
    > >>
    > >> or
    > >>
    > >> -- If you want to change the size and/or move pagefile.sys:
    > >>
    > >> Open the System applet in Control Panel
    > >> Click on the Advanced tab
    > >> Click on the Performance -Settings button
    > >> Click on the Advanced tab again
    > >> Click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section
    > >> Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives..."
    > >>
    > >> Click on each drive that is listed in turn and change its page file settings
    > >> to your preference, or select No Paging file for a particular drive. Click
    > >> Set for each drive that you change.
    > >> On your system drive change the setting to No paging file and click Set.
    > >> Enable a paging file on the drive of your choice. You can either select
    > >> Custom size for for the page file (a range of sizes actually, min to max) or
    > >> let the System manage the file size. When finished with the settings,
    > >> reboot to initiate the changes.
    > >>
    > >> After you're done and rebooted the paging file will be in the new location
    > >> and System Restore will not be including it in any subsequent restore
    > >> points. At that point I deleted all of my existing restore points that had
    > >> the old stored page files from the system drive. (turn off System Restore to
    > >> delete restore points, then re-enable System Restore)
    > >>
    > >>
    > >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > >> news:7E0D4A34-AACD-4BAA-B230-BE41BDCD7A24@microsoft.com...
    > >>> Lets see if I understand, you moved the pagefile to another
    > >>> partition....so
    > >>> it continues to serve its purpose and does not get saved with each restore
    > >>> Point.
    > >>>
    > >>> What causes this file to grew to such a large file, and, in my case,
    > >>> almost
    > >>> overnight without me doing anything, ie, adding a new program, changes,
    > >>> etc?
    > >>>
    > >>> It just seems to me, whatever has caused this file to grew to such a
    > >>> larger
    > >>> size happened overnight and whatever it is that is included in the
    > >>> pagefile,
    > >>> my PC ran fine for 20 months without it. Is there not a way to ID what
    > >>> caused the file to grew so large?
    > >>>
    > >>> Lastly, is there a link to provide step-by-step instructions to do what
    > >>> you
    > >>> did?
    > >>>
    > >>> "RalfG" wrote:
    > >>>
    > >>>> I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the pagefile.sys
    > >>>> file
    > >>>> (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved the
    > >>>> page
    > >>>> file to a non-monitored partition.
    > >>>>
    > >>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > >>>> news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@microsoft.com...
    > >>>>> Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to determine
    > >>>>> that
    > >>>>> it
    > >>>>> was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB of
    > >>>>> HDD
    > >>>>> space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a
    > >>>>> whole
    > >>>>> lot
    > >>>>> of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
    > >>>>> created
    > >>>>> in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, it
    > >>>>> a
    > >>>>> resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has the
    > >>>>> answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it
    > >>>>> started
    > >>>>> to
    > >>>>> save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go a
    > >>>>> week
    > >>>>> and not lose 1GB. I have not installedchnaged or altered anything on
    > >>>>> my
    > >>>>> PC
    > >>>>> so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully
    > >>>>> someone
    > >>>>> knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
    > >>>>> abnormally
    > >>>>> large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) can
    > >>>>> be
    > >>>>> altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 mos.....without
    > >>>>> the
    > >>>>> large File(s).
    > >>>>>
    > >>>>> "Peter Foldes" wrote:
    > >>>>>
    > >>>>>> See the following
    > >>>>>>
    > >>>>>> --
    > >>>>>> Peter
    > >>>>>>
    > >>>>>> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    > >>>>>> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
    > >>>>>>
    > >>>>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    > >>>>>> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    > >>>>>>> Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
    > >>>>>>> System
    > >>>>>>> Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
    > >>>>>>> where
    > >>>>>>> Restore
    > >>>>>>> points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    > >>>>>>> suddenly
    > >>>>>>> over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of
    > >>>>>>> HDD
    > >>>>>>> space
    > >>>>>>> Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
    > >>>>>>> which
    > >>>>>>> deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
    > >>>>>>> starts
    > >>>>>>> over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    > >>>>>>> causing
    > >>>>>>> this......
    > >>>>>>
    > >>>>
    > >>>>
    > >>
    > >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >
    > I deleted all the old restore points immediately after moving the page
    > file so that I wouldn't run into the issue of having my changes undone
    > the moment I did a system restore with one of those old points. In my
    > case the restore points were essentially redundant since none of them
    > was more than 3 days old and all were essentially identical anyway. The
    > whole point of the excercise was to free up the space that all those
    > copies of pagefile.sys were consuming so that over time I could actually
    > start creating a useful collection of restore points again rather than
    > be limited by that handful of huge sized points which were only a few
    > days old at most.
    >
    > As far as I can tell the page file is irrelevent to the actual system
    > restoration. I've only needed to do one system restore since moving
    > pagefile.sys and that went smoothly. AFAIK the only useful data that the
    > pagefile contains pertains to programs that are actually running in real
    > time, the rest being essentially a cache of software that you are likely
    > to be using during any given working session on the computer. There's
    > nothing in it that I know of which pertains to the actual
    > re-installation of the OS or software. The only slight benefit from
    > including the pagefile in SR, as far as I can see, would be to have a
    > ready to use intact cache matching the software as it exists in the
    > newly restored sytem. The alternatives would be that either the
    > non-restored pagefile might contain software that was removed from the
    > system during the restoration or the pagefile might need to be recreated
    > from scratch after a restoration. From my point of view neither of those
    > two scenarios is as bad as being limited to 5 or 6 system restore points
    > that might only be 2 or 3 day old duplicates of each other and wasting
    > 20-30GB of SR harddrive space to hold them.
    >
    > As far as concerns about using multiple page files, I think that amounts
    > to a bit of a red herring as far as we are concerned. IINM neither of us
    > knows enough about the workings of Windows WRT swapfile usage to make
    > any worthwhile changes to the system default of letting Windows manage
    > the pagefile. If it wasn't for the drive space issues affecting my
    > system restore points I wouldn't even have bothered moving the pagefile
    > to another drive, although the drive it is on now is slightly faster
    > than the system drive so there is that benefit.
    >
    > Splitting the single file into multiple parts might be useful if drive
    > space is limited on your system drive (not able to create the optimum
    > sized swapfile) or if for some reason you wanted an especially large
    > swapfile. We could specify an arbitrary size for the pagefile, or
    > pagefiles, but I think it would be largely a waste of time and effort
    > for little or no real benefit. IMO system tweaks that save minutes of
    > operating time are worthwhile doing, those that save imperceptible
    > microseconds of data loading times aren't.
    > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    denmarfl, Jul 5, 2009
    #17
  19. Doug

    Doug Guest

    I am concerned at the suggestion that if the Page File is to perform its
    intended role it must be in the Root Drive. I have always put it on a
    different drive imagining that with two drives working cooperatively it
    speeds everything up, and am reluctant to give up that notion on the basis
    of a report of advice given on a Microsoft helpline without further
    verification. I shall be interested to learn the current truth of the
    matter.

    Four weeks ago I was chided on this NG for mentioning that, with my RAM
    increased to 4 GB, I had given up using a swap file. The consensus was
    always use a swap file and leave Vista to choose its size, so I mended my
    ways and now have it, though NOT on my root drive. Since then some
    processes, such as Vista's Disk Cleanup, seem to take twice as long as they
    did with no swap file, and generally things seem a little more sluggish. I
    had imagined they would be even more sluggish if all the frantic disk
    activity were confined to a single HDD, but I could well be wrong about
    that, particularly if Vista is having to make compromises because the swap
    file is on the *wrong* drive.

    Doug

    "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    news:1355E3E3-CBDC-48E5-9D40-B58EC73EC145@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > If I understand, once the page file is changed to another HDD, it not only
    > doesn't save with C: drive Restore Points, but, it also no longer is
    > updatedkept current. I did contact Microsoft FREE support for Vista SP2
    > who
    > advised the size of the Page File is as a result of changes included in
    > SP2.
    > Further they advised the Page File to perform its intended role must be in
    > the Root Drive......
    >
    > "RalfG" wrote:
    ><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >> denmarfl wrote:<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    >> > Your reply was very helpful; Thanks
    >> >
    >> > Reviewing the article at the link provided it also outlines having 2
    >> > Page
    >> > Files to "speed up you PC"? Now this seems to work against moving the
    >> > Page
    >> > File to another HDD. I do have a 2nd Internal HDD (E:).... so if a
    >> > user
    >> > were to use 2 Page Files, 1 would save on the C: the other on the E:
    >> > file....wouldn't both page files be the same size...and therefore the
    >> > issue
    >> > that I am experiencing, that is, using up 3GB HHD space daily on
    >> > Restore
    >> > Points (Vista creates a "System Restore" point any day when no other
    >> > activity
    >> > creates a Restore point)....that issue would contine.....since both
    >> > Page
    >> > Files would be the same size and 1 would be on the C: drive?
    >> >
    >> > I have not changed the Page File to my E: HDD as yet. The concern is,
    >> > if I
    >> > had to use a prior Restore Point, wouldn't that restore point need the
    >> > Page
    >> > File as part of it to restore my PC back to the Restore PointDate
    >> > selected
    >> > and since the Page File would not be part of the restore Point....my PC
    >> > might
    >> > not restore properly?
    >> >
    >> > "RalfG" wrote:
    >> >
    >> >> The pagefile (swapfile) grows as you use apps until it reaches its
    >> >> optimum
    >> >> size. That size is either the system managed default (about 3.4GB on
    >> >> mine
    >> >> currently) or some value that you assign manually yourself. I'm
    >> >> assuming
    >> >> that loading the apps you habitually use into the swap file likely
    >> >> causes
    >> >> the fast growth. That in itself isn't the big issue to me. What I
    >> >> don't
    >> >> understand is why pagefile.sys is included in System Restore points in
    >> >> the
    >> >> first place. Serves no practical use as far as I can see and it puts a
    >> >> huge
    >> >> hit on how many restore points can be created.
    >> >>
    >> >> The default location of the paging file is on the system drive but you
    >> >> can
    >> >> set it to be on any of the existing partitions/drives. There are
    >> >> instructions for changing the paging file size in Windows Help and
    >> >> support.
    >> >> Just search Paging file in Help. Moving the file is done in the same
    >> >> place.
    >> >>
    >> >> Instructions for moving the page file here:
    >> >>
    >> >>
    >> >>
    >> >> or
    >> >>
    >> >> -- If you want to change the size and/or move pagefile.sys:
    >> >>
    >> >> Open the System applet in Control Panel
    >> >> Click on the Advanced tab
    >> >> Click on the Performance -Settings button
    >> >> Click on the Advanced tab again
    >> >> Click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section
    >> >> Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives..."
    >> >>
    >> >> Click on each drive that is listed in turn and change its page file
    >> >> settings
    >> >> to your preference, or select No Paging file for a particular drive.
    >> >> Click
    >> >> Set for each drive that you change.
    >> >> On your system drive change the setting to No paging file and click
    >> >> Set.
    >> >> Enable a paging file on the drive of your choice. You can either
    >> >> select
    >> >> Custom size for for the page file (a range of sizes actually, min to
    >> >> max) or
    >> >> let the System manage the file size. When finished with the settings,
    >> >> reboot to initiate the changes.
    >> >>
    >> >> After you're done and rebooted the paging file will be in the new
    >> >> location
    >> >> and System Restore will not be including it in any subsequent restore
    >> >> points. At that point I deleted all of my existing restore points that
    >> >> had
    >> >> the old stored page files from the system drive. (turn off System
    >> >> Restore to
    >> >> delete restore points, then re-enable System Restore)
    >> >>
    >> >>
    >> >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >> >> news:7E0D4A34-AACD-4BAA-B230-BE41BDCD7A24@microsoft.com...
    >> >>> Lets see if I understand, you moved the pagefile to another
    >> >>> partition....so
    >> >>> it continues to serve its purpose and does not get saved with each
    >> >>> restore
    >> >>> Point.
    >> >>>
    >> >>> What causes this file to grew to such a large file, and, in my case,
    >> >>> almost
    >> >>> overnight without me doing anything, ie, adding a new program,
    >> >>> changes,
    >> >>> etc?
    >> >>>
    >> >>> It just seems to me, whatever has caused this file to grew to such a
    >> >>> larger
    >> >>> size happened overnight and whatever it is that is included in the
    >> >>> pagefile,
    >> >>> my PC ran fine for 20 months without it. Is there not a way to ID
    >> >>> what
    >> >>> caused the file to grew so large?
    >> >>>
    >> >>> Lastly, is there a link to provide step-by-step instructions to do
    >> >>> what
    >> >>> you
    >> >>> did?
    >> >>>
    >> >>> "RalfG" wrote:
    >> >>>
    >> >>>> I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the
    >> >>>> pagefile.sys
    >> >>>> file
    >> >>>> (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved
    >> >>>> the
    >> >>>> page
    >> >>>> file to a non-monitored partition.
    >> >>>>
    >> >>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >> >>>> news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@microsoft.com...
    >> >>>>> Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to
    >> >>>>> determine
    >> >>>>> that
    >> >>>>> it
    >> >>>>> was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB
    >> >>>>> of
    >> >>>>> HDD
    >> >>>>> space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a
    >> >>>>> whole
    >> >>>>> lot
    >> >>>>> of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
    >> >>>>> created
    >> >>>>> in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently,
    >> >>>>> it
    >> >>>>> a
    >> >>>>> resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has
    >> >>>>> the
    >> >>>>> answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it
    >> >>>>> started
    >> >>>>> to
    >> >>>>> save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go
    >> >>>>> a
    >> >>>>> week
    >> >>>>> and not lose 1GB. I have not installedchnaged or altered anything
    >> >>>>> on
    >> >>>>> my
    >> >>>>> PC
    >> >>>>> so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully
    >> >>>>> someone
    >> >>>>> knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
    >> >>>>> abnormally
    >> >>>>> large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s)
    >> >>>>> can
    >> >>>>> be
    >> >>>>> altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24
    >> >>>>> mos.....without
    >> >>>>> the
    >> >>>>> large File(s).
    >> >>>>>
    >> >>>>> "Peter Foldes" wrote:
    >> >>>>>
    >> >>>>>> See the following
    >> >>>>>>
    >> >>>>>> --
    >> >>>>>> Peter
    >> >>>>>>
    >> >>>>>> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    >> >>>>>> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be
    >> >>>>>> acknowledged.
    >> >>>>>>
    >> >>>>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >> >>>>>> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    >> >>>>>>> Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
    >> >>>>>>> System
    >> >>>>>>> Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
    >> >>>>>>> where
    >> >>>>>>> Restore
    >> >>>>>>> points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    >> >>>>>>> suddenly
    >> >>>>>>> over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of
    >> >>>>>>> HDD
    >> >>>>>>> space
    >> >>>>>>> Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it
    >> >>>>>>> off,
    >> >>>>>>> which
    >> >>>>>>> deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process
    >> >>>>>>> than
    >> >>>>>>> starts
    >> >>>>>>> over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    >> >>>>>>> causing
    >> >>>>>>> this......
    >> >>>>>>
    >> >>>>
    >> >>>>
    >> >>
    >> >><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >>
    >> I deleted all the old restore points immediately after moving the page
    >> file so that I wouldn't run into the issue of having my changes undone
    >> the moment I did a system restore with one of those old points. In my
    >> case the restore points were essentially redundant since none of them
    >> was more than 3 days old and all were essentially identical anyway. The
    >> whole point of the excercise was to free up the space that all those
    >> copies of pagefile.sys were consuming so that over time I could actually
    >> start creating a useful collection of restore points again rather than
    >> be limited by that handful of huge sized points which were only a few
    >> days old at most.
    >>
    >> As far as I can tell the page file is irrelevent to the actual system
    >> restoration. I've only needed to do one system restore since moving
    >> pagefile.sys and that went smoothly. AFAIK the only useful data that the
    >> pagefile contains pertains to programs that are actually running in real
    >> time, the rest being essentially a cache of software that you are likely
    >> to be using during any given working session on the computer. There's
    >> nothing in it that I know of which pertains to the actual
    >> re-installation of the OS or software. The only slight benefit from
    >> including the pagefile in SR, as far as I can see, would be to have a
    >> ready to use intact cache matching the software as it exists in the
    >> newly restored sytem. The alternatives would be that either the
    >> non-restored pagefile might contain software that was removed from the
    >> system during the restoration or the pagefile might need to be recreated
    >> from scratch after a restoration. From my point of view neither of those
    >> two scenarios is as bad as being limited to 5 or 6 system restore points
    >> that might only be 2 or 3 day old duplicates of each other and wasting
    >> 20-30GB of SR harddrive space to hold them.
    >>
    >> As far as concerns about using multiple page files, I think that amounts
    >> to a bit of a red herring as far as we are concerned. IINM neither of us
    >> knows enough about the workings of Windows WRT swapfile usage to make
    >> any worthwhile changes to the system default of letting Windows manage
    >> the pagefile. If it wasn't for the drive space issues affecting my
    >> system restore points I wouldn't even have bothered moving the pagefile
    >> to another drive, although the drive it is on now is slightly faster
    >> than the system drive so there is that benefit.
    >>
    >> Splitting the single file into multiple parts might be useful if drive
    >> space is limited on your system drive (not able to create the optimum
    >> sized swapfile) or if for some reason you wanted an especially large
    >> swapfile. We could specify an arbitrary size for the pagefile, or
    >> pagefiles, but I think it would be largely a waste of time and effort
    >> for little or no real benefit. IMO system tweaks that save minutes of
    >> operating time are worthwhile doing, those that save imperceptible
    >> microseconds of data loading times aren't.
    >> <!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    Doug, Jul 6, 2009
    #18
  20. Manny Weisbord

    Manny Weisbord Guest

    "Doug" <doug@FAKEpleasereplytogroup.com> wrote:
    <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    >I am concerned at the suggestion that if the Page File is to perform its
    >intended role it must be in the Root Drive. I have always put it on a
    >different drive imagining that with two drives working cooperatively it
    >speeds everything up, and am reluctant to give up that notion on the basis
    >of a report of advice given on a Microsoft helpline without further
    >verification. I shall be interested to learn the current truth of the
    >matter.
    >
    >Four weeks ago I was chided on this NG for mentioning that, with my RAM
    >increased to 4 GB, I had given up using a swap file. The consensus was
    >always use a swap file and leave Vista to choose its size, so I mended my
    >ways and now have it, though NOT on my root drive. Since then some
    >processes, such as Vista's Disk Cleanup, seem to take twice as long as they
    >did with no swap file, and generally things seem a little more sluggish. I
    >had imagined they would be even more sluggish if all the frantic disk
    >activity were confined to a single HDD, but I could well be wrong about
    >that, particularly if Vista is having to make compromises because the swap
    >file is on the *wrong* drive.
    >
    >Doug<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

    These sites might be helpful (or might confuse you more):







    <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    >
    >"denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >news:1355E3E3-CBDC-48E5-9D40-B58EC73EC145@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >> If I understand, once the page file is changed to another HDD, it not only
    >> doesn't save with C: drive Restore Points, but, it also no longer is
    >> updatedkept current. I did contact Microsoft FREE support for Vista SP2
    >> who
    >> advised the size of the Page File is as a result of changes included in
    >> SP2.
    >> Further they advised the Page File to perform its intended role must be in
    >> the Root Drive......
    >>
    >> "RalfG" wrote:
    >><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
    >>> denmarfl wrote:
    >>> > Your reply was very helpful; Thanks
    >>> >
    >>> > Reviewing the article at the link provided it also outlines having 2
    >>> > Page
    >>> > Files to "speed up you PC"? Now this seems to work against moving the
    >>> > Page
    >>> > File to another HDD. I do have a 2nd Internal HDD (E:).... so if a
    >>> > user
    >>> > were to use 2 Page Files, 1 would save on the C: the other on the E:
    >>> > file....wouldn't both page files be the same size...and therefore the
    >>> > issue
    >>> > that I am experiencing, that is, using up 3GB HHD space daily on
    >>> > Restore
    >>> > Points (Vista creates a "System Restore" point any day when no other
    >>> > activity
    >>> > creates a Restore point)....that issue would contine.....since both
    >>> > Page
    >>> > Files would be the same size and 1 would be on the C: drive?
    >>> >
    >>> > I have not changed the Page File to my E: HDD as yet. The concern is,
    >>> > if I
    >>> > had to use a prior Restore Point, wouldn't that restore point need the
    >>> > Page
    >>> > File as part of it to restore my PC back to the Restore PointDate
    >>> > selected
    >>> > and since the Page File would not be part of the restore Point....my PC
    >>> > might
    >>> > not restore properly?
    >>> >
    >>> > "RalfG" wrote:
    >>> >
    >>> >> The pagefile (swapfile) grows as you use apps until it reaches its
    >>> >> optimum
    >>> >> size. That size is either the system managed default (about 3.4GB on
    >>> >> mine
    >>> >> currently) or some value that you assign manually yourself. I'm
    >>> >> assuming
    >>> >> that loading the apps you habitually use into the swap file likely
    >>> >> causes
    >>> >> the fast growth. That in itself isn't the big issue to me. What I
    >>> >> don't
    >>> >> understand is why pagefile.sys is included in System Restore points in
    >>> >> the
    >>> >> first place. Serves no practical use as far as I can see and it puts a
    >>> >> huge
    >>> >> hit on how many restore points can be created.
    >>> >>
    >>> >> The default location of the paging file is on the system drive but you
    >>> >> can
    >>> >> set it to be on any of the existing partitions/drives. There are
    >>> >> instructions for changing the paging file size in Windows Help and
    >>> >> support.
    >>> >> Just search Paging file in Help. Moving the file is done in the same
    >>> >> place.
    >>> >>
    >>> >> Instructions for moving the page file here:
    >>> >>
    >>> >>
    >>> >>
    >>> >> or
    >>> >>
    >>> >> -- If you want to change the size and/or move pagefile.sys:
    >>> >>
    >>> >> Open the System applet in Control Panel
    >>> >> Click on the Advanced tab
    >>> >> Click on the Performance -Settings button
    >>> >> Click on the Advanced tab again
    >>> >> Click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section
    >>> >> Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives..."
    >>> >>
    >>> >> Click on each drive that is listed in turn and change its page file
    >>> >> settings
    >>> >> to your preference, or select No Paging file for a particular drive.
    >>> >> Click
    >>> >> Set for each drive that you change.
    >>> >> On your system drive change the setting to No paging file and click
    >>> >> Set.
    >>> >> Enable a paging file on the drive of your choice. You can either
    >>> >> select
    >>> >> Custom size for for the page file (a range of sizes actually, min to
    >>> >> max) or
    >>> >> let the System manage the file size. When finished with the settings,
    >>> >> reboot to initiate the changes.
    >>> >>
    >>> >> After you're done and rebooted the paging file will be in the new
    >>> >> location
    >>> >> and System Restore will not be including it in any subsequent restore
    >>> >> points. At that point I deleted all of my existing restore points that
    >>> >> had
    >>> >> the old stored page files from the system drive. (turn off System
    >>> >> Restore to
    >>> >> delete restore points, then re-enable System Restore)
    >>> >>
    >>> >>
    >>> >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >>> >> news:7E0D4A34-AACD-4BAA-B230-BE41BDCD7A24@microsoft.com...
    >>> >>> Lets see if I understand, you moved the pagefile to another
    >>> >>> partition....so
    >>> >>> it continues to serve its purpose and does not get saved with each
    >>> >>> restore
    >>> >>> Point.
    >>> >>>
    >>> >>> What causes this file to grew to such a large file, and, in my case,
    >>> >>> almost
    >>> >>> overnight without me doing anything, ie, adding a new program,
    >>> >>> changes,
    >>> >>> etc?
    >>> >>>
    >>> >>> It just seems to me, whatever has caused this file to grew to such a
    >>> >>> larger
    >>> >>> size happened overnight and whatever it is that is included in the
    >>> >>> pagefile,
    >>> >>> my PC ran fine for 20 months without it. Is there not a way to ID
    >>> >>> what
    >>> >>> caused the file to grew so large?
    >>> >>>
    >>> >>> Lastly, is there a link to provide step-by-step instructions to do
    >>> >>> what
    >>> >>> you
    >>> >>> did?
    >>> >>>
    >>> >>> "RalfG" wrote:
    >>> >>>
    >>> >>>> I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the
    >>> >>>> pagefile.sys
    >>> >>>> file
    >>> >>>> (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved
    >>> >>>> the
    >>> >>>> page
    >>> >>>> file to a non-monitored partition.
    >>> >>>>
    >>> >>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >>> >>>> news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@microsoft.com...
    >>> >>>>> Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to
    >>> >>>>> determine
    >>> >>>>> that
    >>> >>>>> it
    >>> >>>>> was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB
    >>> >>>>> of
    >>> >>>>> HDD
    >>> >>>>> space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a
    >>> >>>>> whole
    >>> >>>>> lot
    >>> >>>>> of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
    >>> >>>>> created
    >>> >>>>> in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently,
    >>> >>>>> it
    >>> >>>>> a
    >>> >>>>> resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has
    >>> >>>>> the
    >>> >>>>> answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it
    >>> >>>>> started
    >>> >>>>> to
    >>> >>>>> save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go
    >>> >>>>> a
    >>> >>>>> week
    >>> >>>>> and not lose 1GB. I have not installedchnaged or altered anything
    >>> >>>>> on
    >>> >>>>> my
    >>> >>>>> PC
    >>> >>>>> so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully
    >>> >>>>> someone
    >>> >>>>> knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
    >>> >>>>> abnormally
    >>> >>>>> large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s)
    >>> >>>>> can
    >>> >>>>> be
    >>> >>>>> altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24
    >>> >>>>> mos.....without
    >>> >>>>> the
    >>> >>>>> large File(s).
    >>> >>>>>
    >>> >>>>> "Peter Foldes" wrote:
    >>> >>>>>
    >>> >>>>>> See the following
    >>> >>>>>>
    >>> >>>>>> --
    >>> >>>>>> Peter
    >>> >>>>>>
    >>> >>>>>> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
    >>> >>>>>> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be
    >>> >>>>>> acknowledged.
    >>> >>>>>>
    >>> >>>>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
    >>> >>>>>> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
    >>> >>>>>>> Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
    >>> >>>>>>> System
    >>> >>>>>>> Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
    >>> >>>>>>> where
    >>> >>>>>>> Restore
    >>> >>>>>>> points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
    >>> >>>>>>> suddenly
    >>> >>>>>>> over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of
    >>> >>>>>>> HDD
    >>> >>>>>>> space
    >>> >>>>>>> Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it
    >>> >>>>>>> off,
    >>> >>>>>>> which
    >>> >>>>>>> deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process
    >>> >>>>>>> than
    >>> >>>>>>> starts
    >>> >>>>>>> over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
    >>> >>>>>>> causing
    >>> >>>>>>> this......
    >>> >>>>>>
    >>> >>>>
    >>> >>>>
    >>> >>
    >>> >>
    >>>
    >>> I deleted all the old restore points immediately after moving the page
    >>> file so that I wouldn't run into the issue of having my changes undone
    >>> the moment I did a system restore with one of those old points. In my
    >>> case the restore points were essentially redundant since none of them
    >>> was more than 3 days old and all were essentially identical anyway. The
    >>> whole point of the excercise was to free up the space that all those
    >>> copies of pagefile.sys were consuming so that over time I could actually
    >>> start creating a useful collection of restore points again rather than
    >>> be limited by that handful of huge sized points which were only a few
    >>> days old at most.
    >>>
    >>> As far as I can tell the page file is irrelevent to the actual system
    >>> restoration. I've only needed to do one system restore since moving
    >>> pagefile.sys and that went smoothly. AFAIK the only useful data that the
    >>> pagefile contains pertains to programs that are actually running in real
    >>> time, the rest being essentially a cache of software that you are likely
    >>> to be using during any given working session on the computer. There's
    >>> nothing in it that I know of which pertains to the actual
    >>> re-installation of the OS or software. The only slight benefit from
    >>> including the pagefile in SR, as far as I can see, would be to have a
    >>> ready to use intact cache matching the software as it exists in the
    >>> newly restored sytem. The alternatives would be that either the
    >>> non-restored pagefile might contain software that was removed from the
    >>> system during the restoration or the pagefile might need to be recreated
    >>> from scratch after a restoration. From my point of view neither of those
    >>> two scenarios is as bad as being limited to 5 or 6 system restore points
    >>> that might only be 2 or 3 day old duplicates of each other and wasting
    >>> 20-30GB of SR harddrive space to hold them.
    >>>
    >>> As far as concerns about using multiple page files, I think that amounts
    >>> to a bit of a red herring as far as we are concerned. IINM neither of us
    >>> knows enough about the workings of Windows WRT swapfile usage to make
    >>> any worthwhile changes to the system default of letting Windows manage
    >>> the pagefile. If it wasn't for the drive space issues affecting my
    >>> system restore points I wouldn't even have bothered moving the pagefile
    >>> to another drive, although the drive it is on now is slightly faster
    >>> than the system drive so there is that benefit.
    >>>
    >>> Splitting the single file into multiple parts might be useful if drive
    >>> space is limited on your system drive (not able to create the optimum
    >>> sized swapfile) or if for some reason you wanted an especially large
    >>> swapfile. We could specify an arbitrary size for the pagefile, or
    >>> pagefiles, but I think it would be largely a waste of time and effort
    >>> for little or no real benefit. IMO system tweaks that save minutes of
    >>> operating time are worthwhile doing, those that save imperceptible
    >>> microseconds of data loading times aren't.
    >>> <!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
     
    Manny Weisbord, Jul 6, 2009
    #19
  21. Doug

    Doug Guest

    "Manny Weisbord" <mannyweisbord@crimest.invalid> wrote in message
    news:j69355thiea4ekqe8lg4lhra1ktfpp8v9v@4ax.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
    > "Doug" <doug@FAKEpleasereplytogroup.com> wrote:
    ><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
    >>I am concerned at the suggestion that if the Page File is to perform its
    >>intended role it must be in the Root Drive. I have always put it on a
    >>different drive imagining that with two drives working cooperatively it
    >>speeds everything up, and am reluctant to give up that notion on the basis
    >>of a report of advice given on a Microsoft helpline without further
    >>verification. I shall be interested to learn the current truth of the
    >>matter.
    >>
    >>Four weeks ago I was chided on this NG for mentioning that, with my RAM
    >>increased to 4 GB, I had given up using a swap file. The consensus was
    >>always use a swap file and leave Vista to choose its size, so I mended my
    >>ways and now have it, though NOT on my root drive. Since then some
    >>processes, such as Vista's Disk Cleanup, seem to take twice as long as
    >>they
    >>did with no swap file, and generally things seem a little more sluggish. I
    >>had imagined they would be even more sluggish if all the frantic disk
    >>activity were confined to a single HDD, but I could well be wrong about
    >>that, particularly if Vista is having to make compromises because the swap
    >>file is on the *wrong* drive.
    >>
    >>Doug<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
    >
    > These sites might be helpful (or might confuse you more):
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >     <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

    Thanks Manny, most interesting and useful.
    Under the illusion that I am no longer confused [​IMG] I have settled for:
    Drive C: a static swap file of 4605 MB
    Drive D: a static swap file of 4605 MB
    4605 MB was the figure recommended by Vista.
    Vista should then be able to use the 9210 MB of available virtual memory any
    way it pleases with minimum impact on anything else. Hopefully all will now
    run sweetly till I upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium.
     
    Doug, Jul 6, 2009
    #20
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