Re: DEFRAG=25% Free Space w/Sys Volume Info..Restore DCFA

Gramma

Overall 24% free disk is reasonable but you could most likely increase
this figure if you wanted.

Unless you currently have problems with your system there is no need to
keep so many restore points. The way to remedy this is not to turn off
System Restore but to use an option in Disk CleanUp.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
CleanUp to Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files.
Also select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk
CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest
System Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

Completing that procedure will most likely result in there being no
files in the Most Fragmented Files List.

You seem to be making a connection between the "Last Known Good" boot
option and System Restore. Whilst they may both be used to take the
system back to an earlier situation they rely on different system
features. The "Last Known Good" boot option is a Control Setting in the
Registry. System Restore relies on restore points kept in the System
Volume Information folder.

How to start your computer by using the Last Known Good Configuration
feature in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852

How to restore Windows XP to a previous state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084/

You can create more free space in C by
carrying any of the measures suggested below.

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition
which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your My
Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursor
on your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and drag
it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get to the
Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary internet
files, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk. The
default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to offline
copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer select
Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings to
make the change. At the same time look at the number of days history is
held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compress
contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount
gained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append to
existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

The default maximum size setting for Event Viewer logs is too large.
Reset the maximum for each log from 512 kb to 128 kb and set it to
overwrite.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

An alternative to Disk CleanUp is cCleaner (freeware) which does a more
thorough job than Disk CleanUp. Disk CleanUp has to be run for each user
profile, whereas cCleaner only needs to be run once.
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload.asp
http://www.ccleaner.com/

With any cleaner you need to proceed with caution. To be safe you
should create a restore point before using cCleaner. cCleaner also
offers backup before removal.

When using cCleaner think twice before checking Autocomplete Form
History under Internet Explorer. You do get a warning but this one has
irritating consequences. You may need to restore your system's
recollection of passwords after use so keep a record off computer so
that they can easily be re-entered.

Leave the Scan for Issues option alone.

cCleaner does not remove restore points. You need to use Disk CleanUp
for this. Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest
System Restore point.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Gramma wrote:
1. As I understand, if I turn off Sys Restore, reboot, enable Sys
Restore, then all restores are deleted except for the
last/current--which is with 25% free space and all those red
fragmentations. I also think that this will also be the case if I do
"Last good configuration" in Safe mode. Correct me if I am wrong.
Also, I see in c\Windows listing 2 Last Goods (Last Good(2) and Last
Good(3) on 12/11/08. Can I go back to them if they have more free
space and no red fragments?

2. Trying to achieve, Gerry: A Defrag screen with maximum free space
and all red fragments removed. System Restore now has to add Virtual
memory which says some files may not be accessed. See below (I hope):

Volume (C:)
Volume size = 74.52 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 56.49 GB
Free space = 18.03 GB
Percent free space = 24 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 25 %
File fragmentation = 40 %
Free space fragmentation = 11 %

File fragmentation
Total files = 173,751
Average file size = 591 KB
Total fragmented files = 9,513
Total excess fragments = 598,865
Average fragments per file = 4.44

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 744 MB
Total fragments = 1

Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 6,772
Fragmented folders = 13
Excess folder fragments = 205

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 493 MB
MFT record count = 183,705
Percent MFT in use = 36 %
Total MFT fragments = 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
898 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP207\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
777 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP166\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
394 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP210\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
393 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP208\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
389 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP147\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
389 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP211\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
388 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP164\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
387 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP219\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
367 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP209\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
353 11 MB \WINDOWS\ntbtlog.txt
335 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP218\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
316 20 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP220\A0127385.MSI
291 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0119652.dll
288 13 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0121495.dll
278 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP120\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
274 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0121734.dll
263 17 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP198\A0042146.exe
263 17 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP199\A0043770.exe
263 17 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0096599.exe
263 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0122049.dll
263 12 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0118699.dll
262 13 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0121907.dll
258 13 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0118947.dll
255 16 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP204\A0071280.exe
255 16 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP200\A0048385.exe
255 16 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP201\A0055314.exe
254 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0118930.dll
253 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0122332.dll
252 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP205\A0119396.dll
250 19 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{DCFAB4F2-2336-4992-94BB-C01439667FFE}\RP221\A0127413.rbf
Voila! Now I can get to bed 'cause I have an early call at church in
the morning.



"Gerry" wrote:

Gramma

"Have ran many, many System Restores and reluctant to run another
now with only 25% free space. Need "how to" instructions, thank you."

Why are you running System Restore?

Do you want to to eliminate fragmented System Restore files or to
restore to an earlier date? If the latter what are you trying to
acjeve?

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report . Open
Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as
it is more informative.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gramma wrote:
Thanks for that info, but how, then, can I get back my maximum
amount of free space so that I can do system restore with only 25%
free space? As said, I have done Disk Cleanup and Add/Remove.

"Leonard Grey" wrote:

What you observed is the correct behavior of Windows XP's built-in
defragmenter. There are some files and folders that it cannot move.
And the truth is: It really doesn't matter.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Gramma wrote:
WIN XP Home Ed, Svc Pack 3, AVG AntiVirus Free

Defrag SAFE mode left 25% free space with many large files that
could not be defragged: "\System Volume
Information\_restore-(DCFA...)" listed in View Files and very
large files. How do I resolve this?

Ran CKDSK and Disk Cleanup in SAFE mode.

SFC will not open in Safe mode, and in WIN shows "Windows
Protection" but do not want to use the disk I have since it is
different than the one installed by retailer.

Have ran many, many System Restores and reluctant to run another
now with only 25% free space. Need "how to" instructions, thank
you.

Looking forward to a resolution.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Defrag problem
    ... It is likely that an allocation of 12% has been made to System Restore on your C partition which is over generous. ... Another default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary internet files especially if you do not store offline copies on disk. ... Now before you create any more files you may be able reduce the pagefile fragmentation. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: winxp is using all of my hard drive space
    ... When I look in my event log I do see that the system restore service has ... I continuously perform disk cleanups. ... At one time 30+ gb of free space! ... > need to add RAM memory. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: Full Disk Warning
    ... What is the size of your hard disk and how much free space? ... please give this detail for each partition. ... remove all but the latest System Restore points? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Incorrect Dates for Last Accessed In Add/Remove Programs
    ... How large is your hard disk and how much free space. ... Right click on your C drive in Windows Explorer to get this ... Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options, System Restore ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: WIN XP SYSTEM RESTORE FAILS 80%
    ... Volume fragmentation ... Restore and remove all but the latest System Restore points? ... It is likely that an allocation of 12% has been made to System Restore ... Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
Loading