How to Control the Amount of Disk Space Used by System Protection (System Restore) in Windows Vista/7

Computer Renaissance would like to help you to control the amount of disk space used by system protection in Windows 7.

The shadow copies for Windows Vista/7 can consume quite a bit of disk space. However, it is easy to change the space settings for these System Restore backups. These settings are found under System Protection. There are various ways to access them but here is one that is convenient:

1. Open the Start menu and right-click Computer.
2. Select “Properties”.
3. On the left side of the window that opens, click “System Protection”.
4. The dialog shown in figure 1 below will open.
5. Highlight the disk or volume you want to configure.
6. Click the button “Configure”.
7. The dialog shown in figure 2 will open. In this case, disk C: has been selected.
8. Use the slider (shown highlighted) to adjust the space allocated on the selected volume.
9. Click “OK” and “OK” again.

For a more fine-grained way of changing the settings, the command-line with the command “vssadmin” can be used. The methods given there show how to allocate a numerically specified amount of space or to delete shadow copies.

Be aware that Vista Home Premium does not provide for access to shadow copies nor does Windows XP.

Figure 1. Settings for Windows System Protection

Figure 2. Allocating space for Shadow Copies

Source: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-control-amount-disk-space-used-system-protection-system-restore-windows-vista7.htm