Beware - System Restore

[Hagar]

It's not just the large programs but small utilities like FSEdit. This could be very useful if it wasn't so buggy. I know that M$ states that it's not supported but surely they should be capable of creating a simple utility that doesn't keep crashing without warning & when you least expect it. The freeware developers do this sort of thing all the time & their utilities actually work.

[papa-metro]

As circumstances would have it, I just had used SYSTEM RESTORE before this reading. I quickly checked three aircraft i had downloaded and flown the same day. all were still there, but the SOUND file was missing from each ... strange things are happening, red, However the original files were still safe in UNZIPPED and restoration was no chore.
papa-metro usaf 1953-57

[garymbuska]

System Restore does exactly what it says it does! If you go back to a date before you had a certain file or program than NO you will not have it after the restore.
What you need to do when you find yourself in that kind of situation is to make copies of any and all flies you want to keep Burn them on a cd or use a THUMB drive, that way you can put them back after the restore.
Think of it this way if we had the ability to go back in time to a earlier date you would not have the new car you just bought that day now would you?
So why do you think this is going to be different.
SYSTEM RESTORE goes back in time so ANYTHING that has changed since that time will not be there.
That means ANYTHING AT ALL, Pretty straight forward if you ask me.

[expat]

System restore has bailed me out a number of times. I have a habit of fiddling with a working system. I have never had any problems using it. It has on one occasion got FS back up and running. However, has anyone noticed that we all have a worldwide standard system, i.e. a PC with a mswindows (written in small case to show my respect ) product and yet what happens on one computer can be totally different on another even when they are running the same version............so much for "standard"

Matt

[papa-metro]

Well, I suppose that it all boils down to the word SYSTEM. Looking up MICROSOFTS own definition, on line,of what it does I find several paragraphs (headings) on what it WILL NOT restore, hence you would not lose those items, it seems.
altogether too deep for me to follow up on, or be argumentative about, but it works for me ...
papa-metro usaf 1953-57

[Hagar]

System Restore does exactly what it says it does! If you go back to a date before you had a certain file or program than NO you will not have it after the restore.

If this is the case why does it remove specific files like ALL CFG files & leave the rest of the aircraft exactly as they are? I have no experience of it myself but from what I can make out it affects different people in different ways. There must be a logical explanation but it seems sensible to me to back up everything of value before doing a System Restore just in case.

[Katahu]

Don't forget that people also tend to use external hard drives that were made by different manufacturers and have different drivers and configurations. Some even have security systems that can effect the restore process of Windows XP.

Another thing, various antivirus programs and spyware softwares may effect the system restore process as well since they tend to keep an eye on many files for protection [like the system registration file].

[FridayChild]

ANYTHING that has changed since that time will not be there.
That means ANYTHING AT ALL, Pretty straight forward if you ask me.

It's not exactly this way. The Windows Registry is restored, and also are the system files, but System Restore doesn't restore an exact clone of the hard disk state as it was before. In my experience, files that were not present at the time the snapshot was taken were not removed (pretty much the opposite as what happened to some users here).
[sorry for my english, which is going out of the window today, possibly because I'm ill]  :P

[RollerBall]

Wow - some of you lot want to read what it says on the tin  ???

System Restore will not cause you to lose any of your work it says. But it does. I expect to have THE SYSTEM restored back to an earlier state - not working folders like my FS9 folder.

Also, reversing the restore DOES NOT WORK properly. I'll give you a couple of examples.

When you do a system restore it doesn't seem to create a system check point properly. So let's say (as I did) I edit 2 panel folders. Then for some reason or other I do a system restore. Not only will the panel edits have disappeared but also all the aircraft that I have installed since the last system check point (I'm guessing that - the time point would appear to be the only logical thing in all this)

Now it doesn't tell you that - it says you needn't be afraid about losing any of your work..

So, when I find this out, I reverse the restore. When I do so I find that although the aircraft are back, the panel edits aren't.

These are facts fellas - not speculation, that's what's been happening for me.

I've done every check possible for viruses, trojans etc and it's all coming up clean - unless there's something out there that nobody knows about yet.

So who am I to blame - logically?

I did a complete new install of XP only a week or so ago and I'm now getting Generic Host Process errors that probably mean that I'll be losing another weekend of my life doing it all over again - again.

If only we could run all the stuff we want to on Apple or UNIX based kit so we could give a certain US company a kick in its corporate gonads. The stuff they make is so flakey their next new  product is pastry I hear  ;)

[Gypsy_Baron]

Wow - some of you lot want to read what it says on the tin  ???

System Restore will not cause you to lose any of your work it says. But it does. I expect to have THE SYSTEM restored back to an earlier state - not working folders like my FS9 folder.

Also, reversing the restore DOES NOT WORK properly. I'll give you a couple of examples.

When you do a system restore it doesn't seem to create a system check point properly. So let's say (as I did) I edit 2 panel folders. Then for some reason or other I do a system restore. Not only will the panel edits have disappeared but also all the aircraft that I have installed since the last system check point (I'm guessing that - the time point would appear to be the only logical thing in all this)
-SNIP-

I have noticed that the only thing that "disappears" are the
panel.cfg and aircraft.cfg files and, as I recall, they are actually
still there but renamed. The other panel files and aircraft files
and folders were not lost or modified.

Also, one of the reasons one does a "restore" is to try to
eliminate the source of a problem that has recently cropped
up. That's a little difficult to do if you don't remove the recent
additions to the software environment. As with any major
change to a system, one should backup any areas that may
be affected or that you wish to "safeguard"....

   Paul

[RollerBall]

Paul - quite right...

BUT

it says 'You will not lose any of your work'

Now obviously stuff is being lost from the FS9 working folders. Frankly, that isn't that important to me but luckily at least I've noticed it.

But this machine of mine also has stacks of other personal and business stuff on it as well. The whole point is - how much of that has been lost that I haven't noticed - yet?

The reassurances given to me before I used system restore were not true - and the reassurances that were given to me that ' you can completely reverse the restore' also are not.

That is the main point I'm making which is why I said BEWARE  ???

[Zaphod]

Ok..
But if we didn't have system restore,  and we have checked everything we can think of, what would we do when it all turns Turtle?

Zaphod

[RollerBall]

I quite agree....but all I'm saying is watch out. They tell you you don't lose anything but you do. And they say you can fully undo the restore, and you can't.

That's all I'm saying. If you don't want to know, don't want to listen, can't be bothered and don't care about losing stuff, that's fine by me.

I'M ONLY TRYING TO HELP AND ADVISE THE FOLKS WHO DON'T KNOW AND DO CARE.

Please please please, carry on using System Restore. I've not said don't use it. I'm fed up with getting stick merely for pointing out that there are pitfalls.

OK? Thank you.

[Hagar]

I'M ONLY TRYING TO HELP AND ADVISE THE FOLKS WHO DON'T KNOW AND DO CARE.

Thanks Roger. Now I'm aware of this you can be sure that I shall be prepared for the worst if & when I decide to come into the 21st Century.

That's all I'm saying. If you don't want to know, don't want to listen, can't be bothered and don't care about losing stuff, that's fine by me.

As I was sent a preview copy before it was officially released I was one of the first to find that bug I mentioned with CFS2. I posted a warning about it on the CFS2 forum & the way over it. It had about 10 views & not a single response. Soon afterwards I was flooded with mail  from people asking what had happened to their addons after uninstalling CFS2.

[Katahu]

Pretty much like the patients that I talk to over the phone.

Kat - Base Pharmacy, this is airman corrales. How may I help you?

Patient - I hope you can help me. I have been taking the pills for some time but I can't find the instructions on how to take this birth-control pills.

Kat - Have you checked the flip-over lid of the container that holds the tablets?

Patient - OH! Never mind. Thanks.

*click*

OH the irony.



Well, Zaphod has a point. Without the system restore, we would all be reinstalling windows after every quirk that FS throws at us.

And it doesn't matter whether M$ was wrong or not about the restore process. You should [and most of you should know this by now] always back up your work before doing anything that can greatly affect the system.