[Forum FAQ] Reduce the size of System Volume Information folder

Symptom

There is a folder called System Volume Information in the root of each drive. (Figure 1)

Sometimes, you may find the size of System Volume Information folder is too large. However,it is not recommended to delete the files in it casually sincethe System Volume information folder iscreated by the Operating System and used by Windows for storing critical information related to the system configuration.

Figure 1.

Note:The System Volume Information folderis a hidden system folder on each drive by default, you can show the hidden files and folders before accessing it.

Cause                                                  

In general, the System Volume Information folder containsSystem Restore points, Distributed Link Tracking Service databases, Content Indexing Service databases, WinFS databases and information used by the Volume Snapshot Service.

If you enable shadow copies on a volume, more and more VSS snapshots will be created in the "System Volume Information" folder. Then the size of this folder will become too large.

Solution                                                                                           

You can follow the steps below to free up the space of System Volume Information folder safely:                                      

1. Delete the GUIDs files in System Volume Information folder using DiskShadow.exe.

1) Open a command prompt with administrator privilege, then type “DiskShadow.exe” at the command prompt.

2) Type “Delete shadows OLDEST <BackupStorageLocation>” at the command prompt.

3) Type “Exit” to exit DiskShadow.exe.

2. Changing the amount of disk space available to VSS

1) Right-click on the drive you want to configure, and click “Properties”.

2) Click “Shadow Copies” and then click “Settings”. (Figure 2)

Figure 2.

3) Choose “Use limit" and type the maximum size you want to set for the shadow copies, then click “Ok”. (Figure 3)

Figure 3.

Note: The extra shadow copies would be deleted in System Volume Information folder once youconfigure the Maximum size to a lower value than before.It will delete the older shadow copies firstly. Before you configure this setting, please make sure that you have enough space to create shadow copies.

More Information

What's the deal with the System Volume Information folder?

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/11/20/55764.aspx

Backup Version and Space Management in Windows Server Backup

http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/06/22/backup-version-and-space-management-in-windows-server-backup.aspx

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