Bob writes:

<<Is it possible to back up a specific System Restore eg on to a CD for future
use>>

Yes. But you have to be careful.

Anna's suggestion to ghost your C-Drive is best, but it won't fit on a
CD.  You need a DVD burner for that, or a spare partition.

You are correct about the limitations of SR--it loses it's restore points
as it updates. Remembering that it updates mostly in the background,
invisibly, you can quickly lose your favorite Restore Point forever.

I have an old Restore Point (RP) which I burned to a CD, to which I
occasionally return if the system starts to feel a little sludgy.

First, you need to open the folder C/System Volume Information and select a
RP folder from within that.  You'll need to see its Properties to ascertain
the date of the one which you want to preserve. Let's say it's RP3.  You
will see that some RP folders are quite small. These are incremental only,
and of no use for present purposes. Find one that's very large, so you can
be reasonably certain that it's a full stand-alone RP.  Better still,
manually make a full RP and copy that. From memory, I think I emptied the
folder by disabling SR, then re-enabled it and made a new RP.

Burn (or copy to another partition) that folder, making a note of its exact
name and date.

When you want to restore, you'll need to disable System Restore, which will
delete all current RP's, then re-enable it. Copy the RP folder from your CD
back into the same place in the folder System Volume Information,  and you
should have your old RP ready for action under its original name and date.

Personally, I'd much rather use registry restores, using ERDNT.  That's a
10-second job instead of a 10-minute one.  Much easier, they last forever,
and nearly always accomplish what SR does.  I reckon that 90% of glitches,
slowdowns, and whatevers, occur as a result of registry changes, rather
than system files going wrong.  And much safer than relying on SR, which
can easily go flaky when you need it the most.  Just my opinion, not based
on any data.

Don Penlington
 From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html

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