SOLVED System Recovery folder huge and growing

Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
This issue almost left my computer unusable because the C:\System Recovery folder had gotten so large. After a lot of digging, I finally fixed the issue doing the steps below. Btw, major thanks to chapelle for setting me on the right track!

1. Create an administrator account using the command line.
2. Switch users to the new admin account.
  • Click on the windows icon and then switch to the new account
3. Download the free TreeSize program.
  • The current link is this, https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/.
  • Click on the download button. You may have just realized that the website is in German. Apparently download is a German loanword.
  • You should see three options now. Check “Download für USA” and click on the download button.
  • Go to your downloads folder and run the TreeSizeFreeSetup.exe file. Acknowledge that the program may make changes to your computer and choose all the default options.
4. Open the TreeSize program.
  • Go to your search bar and type TreeSize. You may see two programs pop up. Choose the one that says TreeSize Free (Administrator).
5. Scan the C drive
  • Once TreeSize is open, click Scan and then click OS (C:).
  • This should run fairly quickly (less than a minute) and return the size of every folder in the C drive.
  • In my case, I found that the C:\System Recovery\Repair folder was comprised of two subfolders, Backup and Temp. Together, they took up 160 GB of disk space. The System Recovery folder is not viewable through Windows Explorer so we can’t just go delete it’s contents the usual way.
6. Take ownership of the folder of interest.
  • I can’t explain this step any better than the instructions given here, http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-take...ll-access-to-files-and-folders-in-windows-10/.
  • Follow the 10 steps under “Take ownership of a file or folder in Windows 10 using File Explorer” but do one thing differently. In the title, it says to use the file explorer as the basis for everything. However, you may not be able to see the unwanted folder in the file explorer. Instead, do step 2 using the TreeSize program.
  • Do every other step the say it states including the last one which it claims is optional. It didn’t work for me until I checked the box, “Replace all child object permissions…”. Once you click OK, it will spend several minutes changing the permissions on all the files.
7. Delete the folder.
  • Now that you own the unwanted folder, right click it in the TreeSize program. Click delete. It may tell you there is too much data to recycle. If it does this, it will prompt you to permanently delete it instead. Do that. It will spend several minutes deleting all of the files. Once it completes, you’re done. All the disk space that your folder was using is now free.
  • Additionally, you can return your computer to its original state (sans excess baggage) by uninstalling TreeSize and removing the administrator account. TreeSize can be removed just like any other program in under Programs and Features in the Control Panel. To remove the admin account, you first need to return to the original user account. Then, open the command prompt in administrator mode (by right clicking it). Then, type the command net user administrator /active:no and hit enter. Finally, restart your computer and the admin account will no longer appear.
 
Joined
Jun 20, 2017
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Thank you for this thread. I have a Dell XPS 13 and have been having storage problems, which kept getting worse all the time even though I deleted several installed programs and spent many hours researching and applying fixes I found in forums. I found the Treesize program was able to pinpoint the problem as recovery files, where the Windirstat program identified it only as unknown file. I finally tried uninstalling Dell Backup and Recovery, and this immediately fixed the problem.
 
Joined
Jun 22, 2017
Messages
1
Reaction score
1
In fact Dell Backup and Recovery causes this mess by storing stuffs indefinitely in the drive. I
1. Was running low on disk space every other hour
2. Was trying to resolve the problem with WinDirStat. Which showed me "Unknown" files taking 49+GB of SSD space.
3. Tried with TreeSearch. It showed me that these were "System Recovery" ("Repair" and "Backup") files.
4. Then going through this thread I realized that the problem was with the Dell Backup and Recovery. Hence Uninstalled the software from control panel. I was asked whether I wanted to delete everything associated with it which I of course agreed.
5. After a restart, life is very nice for me. Have 47GB of increased drive space. Feeling Light indeed!

(Using a Dell Latitude PC with Windows 7 Pro).
 
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
I have been searching for this all morning. Thanks to everyone in this thread. I figured it was the software but when going into the software to disable any backup that was running, the software said a backup had never been performed. Obviously something is being performed on a daily basis on my 20gb SSD computer and stored in the "c:\system recovery". It is a dell PC running windows 8. I have checked other computers that do not have this software loaded and that folder does not exist. I will create recovery media with the software and then remove it.

After removing the software, If the system restore dir still exists, try running this script.
c:
cd \
takeown /f "c:\system recovery" /r /d y >out.txt
icacls "c:\system recovery" /reset /T >out2.txt
rmdir /q /s "c:\system recovery"
echo this is a dummy line
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
So, I also had this issue and only noticed recently as I was running out of space. The restore files were at 137GB. Here is how I fixed the issue on windows 10:

Settings > System > Storage > Drive > System & Reserved > Manage system restore > Configure > Disk space usage

From there you can set the maximum disk space allowed to be used for previous restore points. This decreased my system restore file size from 137GB to 8GB.
 
Joined
Apr 25, 2018
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
I am so pleased I found this thread! Dell Backup and Recovery had created a 473GB file on my HD. I was down to my last few GB's.
Uninstalling the programme cleared the file. Thanks to everyone above for working this out.
Hi, how much time did it take to restart after deleting dell backup and recovery app ?
 
Joined
Jan 19, 2016
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Hi, how much time did it take to restart after deleting dell backup and recovery app ?
All you have to do is go to the "Control Panel / Programs and Features" find "Dell Backup and Recovery" and delete it. The program and back-up file will be removed. You really don't have to restart to complete the process, but it shouldn't hurt if you do restart the computer just to reset things.
 
Joined
Jun 6, 2018
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Hi, I have a XPS 11. I found another solution without uninstalling DELL Backup & Recovery.

Go to DELL Backup and Recovery > Backup > System Backup > Other options
Set 'State of the System fast restore' to OFF.

Wait several minutes... The problem is solved.


All you have to do is go to the "Control Panel / Programs and Features" find "Dell Backup and Recovery" and delete it. The program and back-up file will be removed. You really don't have to restart to complete the process, but it shouldn't hurt if you do restart the computer just to reset things.
 
Joined
Jan 1, 2022
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
chapelle,

After the Recovery folder reached 50GB I could not ignore it any more! I deleted the Dell Backup & Recovery program and not only did the program get deleted, but the (growing) Recovery folder was removed as well. So the folder was a part of the Dell Backup & Recovery program, no question. Clearly there is a problem with this program, at the rate the Recovery folder was growing it would have consumed my SSD eventually. I have back-up HDD drives and a back-up computer to keep me, well, backed-up. Windows 10 has a decent recovery media (USB drive) feature, so my feeling is the Dell Backup & Recovery was bloatware anyway. It kept prompting me to "upgrade"...to a paid version! That in itself is a red-flag. Anyway, I now have 50GB of usable SSD space back with no apparent operation issues.
 
Joined
Apr 8, 2022
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Thank you so much guys! My laptop's disk space was down to 1gb and i was not able to understand what was taking up so much space. i had tried many methods of clearing space but all of them cleared very less space. im so glad that i found this thread. i also have a dell laptop and was going through the same problem. after deleting dell backup and recovery, now i have 60gb of free space. all thanks to you guys :)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 16, 2023
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
chapelle,

After the Recovery folder reached 50GB I could not ignore it any more! I deleted the Dell Backup & Recovery program and not only did the program get deleted, but the (growing) Recovery folder was removed as well. So the folder was a part of the Dell Backup & Recovery program, no question. Clearly there is a problem with this program, at the rate the Recovery folder was growing it would have consumed my SSD eventually. I have back-up HDD drives and a back-up computer to keep me, well, backed-up. Windows 10 has a decent recovery media (USB drive) feature, so my feeling is the Dell Backup & Recovery was bloatware anyway. It kept prompting me to "upgrade"...to a paid version! That in itself is a red-flag. Anyway, I now have 50GB of usable SSD space back with no apparent operation issues.
How long did it take you to uninstall the Dell Backup & Recovery program on your system? The uninstall pop-up shows mine is still processing at over 5 hours now. I'm wondering if that is just how long it takes to remove a few years of back up copies or if the uninstall is actually frozen.
 
Joined
Jan 19, 2016
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
5 hours seems excessive. Something is probably "stuck" ...yes, a high tech term for I don't really exactly know the exact cause:) If it were my computer, I would turn it off and back on, then check to see if the program has been removed, and if the file is deleted too. If the program and file is still there uninstall it again. I wish I could be more technical, but that's really all I can offer. Good luck.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 16, 2023
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Thank you, Andrew B. I was very tempted to do just what you suggested. However, I let the uninstall continue to run the rest of the day. The uninstall was still chugging along at 12 hours. Went to bed and checked it about 6 hours later and it had finished the uninstall AND deleted over 200 MB of Dell Backup and Recovery files along with it! Oh happy day to be rid of that Dell Backup and Recovery app and its drive disabling/space hogging routine! :)
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top