Windows restore point-yellow notification

Hi Βασίλης Νικολόπουλος,

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For the 1) question, I was referring to the relationship between backup/System Restore operations and Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). Microsoft's VSS documentation confirms that VSS is used by System Restore and backup scenarios, including backups archived to another hard drive

To clarify my point, "Windows thinks there is already a system image backup associated with that drive" - "that drive" here is the one being backed up. For example, if you're backing up C:, it doesn't matter where (a second HDD in your case), Windows saw "C: has a backup". That's what I meant.

• Now for the yellow triangle, like I previously said, it was just a warning that restore points could be deleted sooner because System Restore and system-image backup operations both use the Volume Shadow Copy Service. It was not, by itself, evidence of corruption or anything wrong.
• Your screenshots show that C: currently has one shadow copy, created on September 13, 2026. So it seems like System Protection is currently creating snapshots again. However, older restore points are no longer listed, so those were truly removed, and unfortunately, the reasons for it cannot be identified.

For the 2) question, if it's D:, based on what you posted, VSS/shadow copies do not appear to account for that loss of space. It actually shows 0 bytes of used Shadow Copy Storage right now. Either way, for the secondary HDD issue, I suggest checking what is actually consuming the space:

• Go to Settings > System > Storage > Advanced storage settings > Storage used on other drives.
• Select the secondary internal HDD and check which category is using the additional space.
• Also check the Recycle Bin, because files deleted from drive can continue taking space.

So, although it was reasonable to wonder whether the two symptoms were connected, the vssadmin results currently point toward two separate issues rather than VSS being responsible for the unexplained loss of free space.

Sorry i do not understnd the advice 3) and 4)

Τhank you for responce and i apologize for my delay responce.I will check but i would ask you:

1)What do you mean about : ''The message means Windows thinks there is already a system image backup associated with that drive''?The system image backup is saved in second hdd that i am using as a storage space.So why windows ''think'' that system image backup is saved to it's OS drive........?That you mean ;Windows think that system image back up think that is saved to C drive (that include OS?)?

2)I notice that my secondary internal hdd ,that as i told you i use only as a storage space (and the restore point is disable for that) its space decrease without apparent cause.I have download a music folder with 5GB the last sunday.Until then the capacity was 46 GB.After was 41 Gb.But at Thursday was 35 without downloading any large files,only some pictures with some mb.....I delete another file and the capacity was 39 GB....but now is 38,8 GB.Google AI told that maybe windows create snapshot ,temp files e.t.c to this drive...Is any possibility the two issues connected?I upload a question for my second issue to Q&A but i do not receive any substantial assistance

Hi Βασίλης Νικολόπουλος,

I can understand why this is concerning, especially when it looks like your restore points may have disappeared on their own. The good news is that the yellow warning itself is normally not an error, not necessarily indicating corruption or a problem. It's just informational and has existed in Windows for many years:

• System Image backups and System Restore points both use Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
• The message means Windows thinks there is already a system image backup associated with that drive.
• When both exist, the system may delete older shadow copies more aggressively to free space when needed.

So System Restore can sometimes purge older restore points automatically when the allocated storage becomes insufficient or/and backup-related VSS activity triggers cleanup. I also notice your current allocation is only 2% (10 GB), with about 6 GB already in use. If Windows needed additional space, older restore points might've been removed. Let's see:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator > run vssadmin list shadowstorage > check:
   1. Used Shadow Copy Storage
   2. Allocated Shadow Copy Storage
   3. Maximum Shadow Copy Storage
   4. If you're not sure what it means, let me know.
2. Also run vssadmin list shadows to check whether any shadow copies currently exist.
3. In addition, if you have sufficient SSD space, increase allocation to around 5-10% (25 - 50 GB), and see if it helps lower the warning rate on your system.
4. As your system image backup has been sitting on the second HDD since 2021, verify whether it is still needed, since very old system images can sometimes contribute to VSS storage complexity.

In short, the warning appears because Windows has detected that Volume Shadow Copy storage is being used for both System Restore and System Image backups. The two features share the same technology so if there's not enough space, Windows warns that older shadow copies may be removed sooner than usual.

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