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3 Ways of System Restore to Remove Windows Problems

Written by: Demi Moore

Article Overview: Introduce three main ways to restore system. System restore is an effective way to solve most of system problems. Traditional methods of system restore have more or less limitations and new way has made great progress.

3 Ways of System Restore to Remove Windows Problems

For most computer users Windows system restore may not be unfamiliar, and quite a lot of people take it as the last straw when attempts to remove a stubborn virus and stop sustained blue screen, etc., fail. It’s much better than reinstalling system, for the latter method erases all private data on your system partition, while the former one saves some.

Windows system restoreis used as the last resort. Only when there is no way else to remove problems do people use it, for common ways of restore are still far from satisfactory. It’s not guaranteed that all data you want can be kept after restore, and backup files for restore kept on your disk can take large space, and besides, it’s also a reason that operation of performing restore can be really complicated.

There are two main ways that people usually use to restore system, the Windows System Restore and Ghost.

No.1: Windows System Restore

Windows attached program, every Windows user can use it.

Operating difficulty: medium

Space consuming: 12% of partition space by default

Backup type: system related files backup

Windows System Restore comes along with the operating system. You can click Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-System Restore to reach it. Different Windows versions may differ. It only backups system-related files in the restore points and the points can be kept at most 90 days. Personal files like documents, pictures and other installed programs are not protected. Windows System Restore will take at most 12% of drive space by default. You can create restore points manually, and it will create automatically when you install certain programs or drivers. Restore points will be deleted automatically when the using space limit is reached. The shortage is that it’s a little bit space consuming, and when system crashes, sometimes it’s no way to perform restore.

No.2: Ghost Operating difficulty: relatively high

Space consuming: depends on data size backed up

Backup type: in disk sector units

It is software that makes backups in the form of compressed archives. The archives contain complete data of the protected partition. You can keep the backup files permanently and even use the backup files to create a complete copy of data on other computers, and this is one thing that other ways of restore cannot match. As long as you have a backup, you can restore system no matter whether your system can be started. You won’t lose any data or files that existed when the backup was made. The size of backups depends. Usually a backup for a partition that has 8 to 10 GB data may take about 2 GB space.

One point of inconvenience is that Ghost is not quite easy to use. You should go to the booting menu to operate before logging in Windows. Besides, you may feel bothered to make backup files due to the complicated operation, so your backups may always lack new added files on your disks. Not long ago some virus came out. They sabotage the system and at the same time, they seek and delete .GHO files, the backup files made by Ghost, making it impossible to restore system to remove virus via Ghost.

Pay attention that Ghost makes backup files in disk sector units, which means that it backups complete data on a certain partition. When restoring, it proceeds also in sector units, which means current data on target partition will be erased completely and covered by data in the backup file. You cannot undo this course.

Besides the two traditional ways, there is a third choice. There is something new in this way.

No.3: Time Shuttle

Operating difficulty: easy

Space consuming: snapshots not take space; up to 1,000 snapshots

Backup type: disk sector in units; support individual file recovery

Compared with traditional ways of restoring, this one, Wondershare Time Shuttle, features in its speediness, convenience, multi-point restore and individual file recovery.

With simple operations, you can create a snapshot within 5 second, no need to reboot your computer. The snapshot just remembers the current status of your hard drive and it doesn’t copy data as backup. Thus snapshots of Time Shuttle do not take any space themselves. When something goes wrong with your computer, snapshots can take your system back to what they have remembered. This restore process is simple, too. You just need 20 seconds and a reboot, and then all is done. You can create up to 1,000 snapshots, which means you can remember 1,000 statuses of your computer, and this is the true meaning of Time Shuttle. You can jump freely between snapshots you have created. Not satisfied with the system after a restore? Never mind, just jump back or to another one. The convenience and plurality let you create snapshots whenever you like and therefore you can always keep your recent added files and data remembered. You can also set automatic tasks to create snapshots on every computer booting, every day and every week, etc.

Another highlight of Time Shuttle is that it can recover individual files. Time Shuttle creates snapshots and restore in sector units, too. But unlike Ghost, it can recover individual files from a snapshot without restoring the whole data on a partition. A better point is that individual file recovery is as easy as copying and pasting files, also no need to reboot computer.

Time Shuttle also considers the situation that Windows cannot start. There is a booting menu and you can press Home key to enter it before logging in to the desktop, and then perform system restore. Thus even your system is too damaged to start, you are still able to use Time Shuttle to bring it back to normal.

The three ways each have their own advantages. Using restore well can help your build up the last defense of your computer. And as new technology is developed, it becomes more and more convenient to use system restore, and it may be primary way to remove computer problems.

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Article Tags: files backup, individual file recovery, Windows System Restore



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