How to Reduce the Hard Disk Space Reserved for Restore Points in Windows 7

In the recent past, we outlined how to reduce the hard disk space for restore points in both Windows XP and Windows Vista. So now we also provide you with the details on how to do the same in Windows 7.

Luckily Microsoft has made many PC maintenance procedures much more accessible and user-friendly in Windows 7. This includes the process of reducing the space allocated for restore points.

Here are the steps to change the hard disk space allocated for restore points in Windows 7:

In the Start menu, select Control Panel.

In the Control Panel, select System and Security, and then click System.

Next, click the Advanced system settings in the navigation panel on the left-hand side.

In the System Properties dialog box, select the System Protection tab.

Then select a drive in Available Drives and click the Configure button.

In the System Protection dialog box, use the Max Usage slider to adjust the space used for restore points. You can check the Current Usage value to see how much hard disk space is in use for restore points at the moment. I would not recommend making it too small, 5% to 10% of the hard disk space is best.

If you want to reduce the amount of disk space used for restore points, you can also use the Delete button to remove all current restore points. Keep in mind that you cannot restore the system to a previous configuration anymore. Alternately use the Disk Cleanup option to remove all but the last restore point. This is exactly the same as cleaning up restore points in Vista.