Solved Anyone figured out the disappearing restore points problem

[JeffL]

I wonder why your usage is so much smaller than mine. Maybe I'm using more disk space for my files. I'm using about 60GB for my data and installed programs (not including the OS). At any rate, I'm satisfied that everything is working ok.

 

[XweAponX]

I'm only using 22 gig, but you have to account for files in "Program Data" also "Program Files (x86) if you have a 64 bit OS. Plus "Appdata" Local, Locallow, and Roaming - Not to mention any accounts made by GeForce drivers which are used for their updates - Also ASP.net and I have Dot Net Legacy 4 and 4.5 folders. And, some Document files do get sent there too, even though they are not supposed to.

 

[dferron]

I realize that this thread is almost 2 years old, but the problems are the same.

Win 8.1
I have three things misbehaving.
1. Restore points disappear
2. Allocated space changes on its own
3. Restore hasn't worked out of the box.

1. I can create several points and they all stay until I reboot or some other actions occurs that I'm not aware of.
2. Increased allocated space to 20% (about 37gig) and it seems that it has a mind of its own as it reverts to the1%. When this happens the points are deleted. Haven't figured out the cause.
3. Restore has never worked.

I have turned off restore, rebooted and reset the allocated space and then turned back on ... no change. I am fairly sure that the deletion is done because of the space reset ... at least it appears to be that way for me.

Have done a thorough malware/spyware run with several apps, AVG Security running all the time. None of them have picked up anything that would seem to be the cause.

Is there a registry setting for the allocated space? Perhaps a hard edit would do the trick.

Suggestions??

EDIT: In the window for the drives you want to turn on for restore, I have C:, D:, and a folder named RESTORE. What is that?

 

[lmaneke]

I'm wondering if this could be a possible hardware issue. Could be a problem with the hard drive, that may not be showing up.

If possible, if you have a spare hard drive handy, and a Windows Installation disk, you could probably install a clean copy of Windows, but do not activate it, use for testing purposes, and see if the problem duplicates even with a fresh copy of Windows.

System restore should run fine on a clean copy, and settings should stay the same, however, if a clean copy behaves the same as your current system, then it would be a possible hardware issue, "Memory, Motherboard, etc"

If you see a folder, or partition named RESTORE, then it could be a possible recovery partition maybe?

 

[dferron]

I don't think it is a hardware or mem issue. Everything else is working just fine. I am not the only one with restore not working. In fact, MS posted a kb fix for restore issues. I have that kb installed.

I don't have a Win disk.

 

[dferron]

Update....

I turned on Volume Shadow Copy and all appears to be OK. Have done cold boots, restarts, added restore points and allocated space remains at set 20% and all restore points created are still there.

I read a thread on this site or another, don't recall, that stated that Volume Shadow Copy was no longer part of 8.1, as it was replaced with File History. In my case, that isn't true.

It appears at this time I have a fix ....

UPDATE:
Well that didn't work. So, where to from here??

 

[lmaneke]

hmm, still interesting. I don't have that problem. I have a 250 gb Western Digital drive, ASUS P5K Pro with Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. Windows 8.1 is running with the MBR. I wonder if it may have something to do with a problem with the GPT file system that the UEFI systems use. As I don't have a UEFI system as of yet, that's hard to determine.

Wow, I hope a fix is found. That would kind of be annoying if I upgraded to a newer UEFI system, and end up having a problem like that.

I have mine set at 25%, which is 18.22 GB set for restore points, and I currently have 9 restore points to choose from, since early January, And its only using 13.22 GB for the restore points I do have.

 

[dferron]

Since I am not having any luck with the MS version of Restore and the restore points disappearing I have another question.

Is there a 3rd party app that will create restore points and store that info in a diff location that in System Volume Information?

I have made drive backup, but that seems kind of a long process if I install an app or a malware that creates a little system heartburn and I just want to do the old traditional restore that worked so well with XP.

I have also exported the registry.

Suggestions??