OMG windows 7 is God

[Nothinman]

System Restore uses VSS to make it's restore points.

Yea, I thought about that after the fact. I wonder if they actually share snapshots or if they just share the same pool used by VSS.

 

[RebateMonger]

I'm not sure of the exact relationship between Previous Versions and System Restore. But just to avoid misunderstanding in this thread, they have different purposes.

System Restore, which has been around since XP, keeps copies of pevious versions of the Registry and other key system files. It's used to restore the OS to a previous point in time and doesn't restore data files. Various events can initiate the creation of a System Restore Point, including a manual request.

Previous Versions was first used in Windows Server 2003. But it was only used on network shared folders. If a folder wasn't shared, then no Previous Versions were kept. By default, snapshots were made twice a day, at 7:00 am and 12:00 noon.

The new Previous Versions capability of Vista and Win7 keeps track of all changed files on the computer (not just shared folders) and it's used to restore a previous version of an overwritten or deleted file or folder.

On my own Win7 desktop, my System Restore date/time options are the same as my Previous Versions data/time options except that I have one additional System Restore point, which was created over a month ago and is labelled "Backup". Maybe from when I was testing the Win7 backup capability?

Based upon the shared System Restore/Previous Versions date/time options, it does seem like they do overlap. A lot.

 

[stlcardinals]

Yea, I thought about that after the fact. I wonder if they actually share snapshots or if they just share the same pool used by VSS.

I think you are just a little confused. Volume Shadow Copy Service is VSS.

 

[Nothinman]

I think you are just a little confused. Volume Shadow Copy Service is VSS.

I'm usually more than a little confused. =) However, I do know what VSS is.

 

[RebateMonger]

I'm usually more than a little confused. =) However, I do know what VSS is.

I blame it all on Microsoft, with their three-letter "VSS" acronym for a four-word "Volume Shadow Copy Service" name.

 

[MrPickins]

And since Win2K3 and XP SP3 are virtually he same just with different licensing restrictions it's perfectly feasible for MS to give XP "previous versions" with virtually no work and yet they decide not to for no good reason that I can see.

They stand nothing to gain from it. Is that a good enough reason for you?

Evidently, it is for MS...

 

[Nothinman]

They stand nothing to gain from it. Is that a good enough reason for you?

Evidently, it is for MS...

No, of course not, otherwise I wouldn't have even mentioned it.

 

[ViRGE]

System Restore, which has been around since XP

Just to be pedantic here (and boy how I love doing that ), System Restore was introduced in WinME. However unlike the XP version, the WinME version was absolutely terrible, which is why it had a terrible reputation for many years past XP's launch.

 

[RebateMonger]

Just to be pedantic here (and boy how I love doing that ), System Restore was introduced in WinME. However unlike the XP version, the WinME version was absolutely terrible, which is why it had a terrible reputation for many years past XP's launch.

Interesting. I skipped WinME, going directly from Win98 to XP, so I never played with ME.

 

[ViRGE]

Interesting. I skipped WinME, going directly from Win98 to XP, so I never played with ME.

You should consider yourself lucky. I'm still in therapy a decade later for what WinME put me though.

 

[Nothinman]

I skipped WinME as well. Went straight from Win98SE to Linux. =) I've only seen WinME machines maybe twice in my life.

 

[MrPickins]

No, of course not, otherwise I wouldn't have even mentioned it.

You seriously want MS to waste time implementing features into a product which has already reached its EOL?

You have unrealistic expectations...

 

[Nothinman]

You seriously want MS to waste time implementing features into a product which has already reached its EOL?

You have unrealistic expectations...

It's been around since Win2K3 was released and unless I'm mistaken XP wasn't EOL back then...

And it wouldn't have cost them much, if any, time because they already did the work to do it for Win2K3. In fact I'd wager that they spent more time disabling it for XP than they would've just leaving it accessible like it is in Win2K3.

 

[RebateMonger]

It's also possible that, at least originally, "Previous Versions" wasn't used in XP because of disk space concerns. Even now, many folks using Vista or Win7 disable Windows System Restore and "Previous Versions" because they don't want to "waste" the disk space. Notice the posts on the Forums here with folks wondering, "Where has all my disk space gone?".

Even Server 2003 never had a "full" "Previous Versions" capability. It only makes snapshots of changed files in "Shared" folders.

 

[ViRGE]

It's also possible that, at least originally, "Previous Versions" wasn't used in XP because of disk space concerns. Even now, many folks using Vista or Win7 disable Windows System Restore and "Previous Versions" because they don't want to "waste" the disk space. Notice the posts on the Forums here with folks wondering, "Where has all my disk space gone?".

Even Server 2003 never had a "full" "Previous Versions" capability. It only makes snapshots of changed files in "Shared" folders.

Previous versions wasn't available in XP because the OS doesn't have the ability to generate persistent VSS snapshots. It's Win2K3 that first added that feature.