Volume shadow copy is a feature on all versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems that allows backup copies of files or folders on a specified volume, either automatically or manually. To disable the volume shadow copy, the service has to be stopped. The service can be stopped from the volume shadow copy properties window and Windows administrative tools.
What is Volume Shadow Copy?
Volume Shadow Copy, also known as
Snapshot Service or
VSS, is a feature embedded in Windows 2003 and later in all releases of
Microsoft Windows. This technology allows you to make manual or automatic backup copies or snapshots of a file or folder on a specific volume. Shadow Copy technology requires the file system to be
NTFS.
Note that once the volume shadow copy is disabled, there is no use for previous versions of a file or folder element. To lighten the properties of a file or folder, you must
remove the previous versions tab through changes in the registry. If disk space poses a problem, you can
edit the disk space allocated to shadow copies so that you don't have to
disable the volume shadow copy.
Disabling Volume Shadow Copy
Click
Start and type
services.mc
into the
search bar. Hit
Enter.
An option for
Volume Shadow Copy will appear. Double-click on the icon.
Change the startup type to
Manual, and then click
Stop:
Move to the
Recovery tab:
Set the
First failure,
Second failure, and
Subsequent failures options to
Take No Action.
Press
OK to confirm.
How To Edit the Disk Space Allocated to Shadow Copy
If you do not want to disable shadow copies and would prefer to customize the
maximum disk space allocated to this service, here's a quick tutorial.
Go to your
Start menu, and navigate to
All Programs >
Accessories.
Right-click on the
Command Prompt >
Run as administrator.
Next, type the following command:
vssadmin resize shadowstorage/On = C: / For = C: / maxsize = 3GB
.
Note:
The / On = C: indicates that the photos will be saved on the C drive.
The / For = C: indicates that the photographs are those of the C drive.
The / maxsize = 3 GB indicates the size allocated to instant snapshots. In this case, that total is 3 GB.
Confirm by pressing
OK.
Disable Previous Shadow Copy Versions
Now that the service is disabled, all
Previous Versions are useless. In order to lighten the menu and properties of elements, it is best to remove it. However, before proceeding with this, it is highly recommended that you
back up your registry:
Open the
Registry Editor and locate the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\
.
Create a new key with the name
PreviousVersions by going to the
Edit menu >
New >
Key.
Next, create a new
DWORD (32-bit) under the latter key by using the name
DisableLocalPage. You can do this by going to the
Edit menu >
New >
DWORD (32-bit).
Double-click this value and put
1 in the data fields.
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