How to reclaim storage from “System Volume Information”

Published on June 23, 2015 by  in server

Link:   http://www.fots.nl/how-to-reclaim-storage-from-system-volume-information/

 

After diskspace on a Windows 2008 R2 server was decreasing, I noticed that the System Volume Information had a large amount of Gb and was still increasing in size. This command can also be used on other Windows operating systems like Windows Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 2012.

So what does the System Volume Information directory hold for information?

Note: The folder holds information that with casual interference could cause serious system problems.

  • System Restore points. You can disable System Restore from the “System” control panel.
  • Content Indexing Service databases for fast file searches.
  • Distributed Link Tracking Service databases for repairing your shortcuts and linked documents.
  • Information used by the Volume Snapshot Service (also known as “Volume Shadow Copy”) so you can back up files on a live system.

Check the shadow copy storage

If you want to reclaim your storage follow these steps.

First check your current Shadow Storage usage. Start a command prompt and type:vssadmin list shadowstorage

vssadmin list shadowstorage

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Shadow Copy Storage association

For volume: (C:)\?Volume{13064974-e2b3-11e1-b543-806e6f6e6963}
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\?Volume{13064974-e2b3-11e1-b543-806e6f6e6963}

Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 9.358 GB (2%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 9.711 GB (2%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 10 GB (2%)

As you can see in this example the maximum amount of shadow copy storage (10 GB) is almost utilized. It’s also possible the  maximum is set to UNBOUNDED, which indicates it can use up to 100% of your storage on that volume.

Resize the shadow copy storage

In this example I want to decrease the usage to 5 Gb. As you can see, the number of space being used for the shadow copy storage is larger (9,7 Gb). You can resize the shadow copy storage to a lower amount being used, without disrupting the system. After resizing the diskspace is immediatly reclaimed.

To resize the shadow copy storage use the following command: vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=[drive letter]: /For=[drive letter]: /MaxSize=[maximum size]

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=c: /for=c: /maxsize=5GB

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Successfully resized the shadow copy storage association