How to Reduce Shadow Copy on Windows Vista

Shadow Copy is the common name for a Windows Vista process called Volume Snapshot (or VSS). This process works alongside System Restore to allow you to access files and folders on your computer as they existed in the past. This process is able to use up to 15 percent of your drive's total disk space, which drastically cuts down on your storage.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Open an Administrator Command Prompt. Find the Command Prompt in Vista under the Accessories folder. Right-click on the icon and select "Run as Administrator."

2. Go to the System32 directory which should be c:\windows\system32. Depending how your paths are set up, this may not be necessary but better to be safe than sorry.

3. Type "vssadmin list shadowstorage" to see how much space is allocated and currently used for Shadow Copy on Drive C. There will also be a few lines of volume information, but those aren't important for this process.

4. Change the Shadow Copy size by typing in "vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=c: /for=c: /maxsize=XXX" Instead of XXX, enter the amount of space you want Shadow Copy to use. For instance, if you want 2 gigabytes used, enter "2GB."

Tips & Warnings

• Be careful that you don't make it so small that it can't do its job anymore; if you do, you may as well turn it off entirely. A good rule is to never go below 5 percent of your drive's total space.
• These instructions assume your boot drive is Drive C and that you have Windows installed at c:\windows. If this isn't true for you, you'll have to alter some of the steps for your specific system.