How do I delete huge files from System Volume Information?

Anonymous
2011-08-16T11:37:52+00:00

I have three large hard disks that I use to store backups of the system.  Some program -- I think it was the defragmenter -- caused Win 7 to place huge files (> 4 GB) in System Volume Information.  Nothing I do wil let me delete these files.  I cannot even take ownership of them.  When I try to take ownership of either the file or of System Volume Information I receive an "Access is denied" error on the file name.  Nothing should prevent an administrator from taking ownership of any file on his system.  How can I delete these huge files?  Please do not answer "Use Disk Cleanup to delete all but the last restore point."  That runs, but it deletes nothing.  On a previous installation of Win 7, I could take ownership of System Volume Information and delete its contents, but ot on this new installation.

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Anonymous
2011-08-17T10:05:51+00:00

Hello,

The System Volume information folder keeps the Restore point entries. Usually it is not recommended to delete the entries from the System volume information.

Step 1 : Stop the Volume shadow copy service.

a:  Go to Start - Run and type Services.msc then press enter.

b: Under the Status column look for any entries that read as "Started", make it as “Stopped”.

**c:**Click apply and then ok.

Step 2 : Then take ownership of the System volume Information folder and then try to delete its contents.

How do I open a file if I get an access denied message?

Hope that helps.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-05-07T13:29:33+00:00

    Thank you for your help.  Your approach would almost certianly work.  I did a similar repair by taking the disk to another Windows 7 installation and deleting the files there, though I had to circumvent security by taking ownership of the files before the system would let me delete them.  However, the best, most principled solution is the following from Windows 7 built-in help:

    You can manage the disk space that is used by System Restore by following these steps:

    1. Click to open System.
    2. In the left pane, click System protection. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
    3. Under Protection Settings, click the disk, and then click Configure.
    4. Under Disk Space Usage, move the slider to the right to increase the disk space that system protection can use or move the slider to the left to decrease the disk space.

    I originally set the allowable space to zero, and the system deleted  all the files.  Later I moved it to 10% (of a 3 TB disk).  This is a disk I use solely for backup.  There is no need for restore points.  When I eventually need the space, I will just set the allowable space back to zero.

    Again, thanks for your help.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-06-29T00:27:29+00:00

    One other thing to keep in mind. I've found that very large files in the System Volume folder have been related to Disk restore files. Sometimes corrupted. I was able to do some very effective reducing of the System volume folder by deleting and disabling System restore under system protection settings, then re-enable and create a new restore point right away. Just killed 365GBs of info on a friend's HDD just by disabling and re-enabling system restore.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-04-02T16:24:13+00:00

    These are the files which are used when volume shadow copies are created. aI tried all the steps mentioned above and still I am unable to delete the files. Here is what I did to remove these files from my disk.

    1. Go the drive properties, for which the issue persists.
    2. Go to the tab volume shadow copies and check if this is enabled.
    3. In my case i found this was disabled. Click on enable, limit maximum size to 300MB and click ok.
    4. The file size of Volume shadow copy will be reduced to 300MB.
    5. Disable shadow copying and then volume shadow copy size will be reduced to 0 MB!!

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-09-28T09:34:59+00:00

    In Windows 8 it's more known as restore points.

    To delete them.

    Win + R

    sysdm.cpl

    Sytem Protection tab

    Under Protection Settings select affected drive i.e (D:)

    Configure

    Change Max Usage: or just click Delete to remove all restore point files.

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