How to Free Up Drive Space By Removing Shadow Copies [Windows]

Reducing the amount of available space for Shadow copies Then click System Protection, and select the drive you wish to modify shadow copy settings for. Then click Configure. You can reduce the “max usage” slider (try to leave it at least 600MB to ensure it can create at least one shadow copy). Click OK.

1. How do I remove used shadow copy storage space?
2. Does shadow copy take up space?
3. Is it safe to delete shadow copies?
4. How do you clean up shadow copies?
5. How do I reduce the size of a shadow copy?
6. How do I delete a volume shadow copy?
7. How do I increase allocated shadow copy storage space?
8. How many shadow copies can exist?
9. Where are volume shadow copies stored?
10. How do I remove shadow copies in Windows 10?
11. Should I disable volume Shadowcopy?
12. What is shadow copy used for?

How do I remove used shadow copy storage space?

Open command prompt as administrator -> Type diskshadow -> then on the DISKSHADOW> prompt type delete shadows all to delete / remove all shadow copies from the server.

Does shadow copy take up space?

Windows uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service to make a copy of your hard drive for restoration from System Restore. ... VSS can sometimes make multiple copies of the drive, using up all available space, even though one copy can need as little as 20 – 30GB.

Is it safe to delete shadow copies?

Well, is it safe to delete these shadow copies, if your computer running well at this time, and ensure these backups that you don't want to keep, it's safe to delete, and create a new backup for you data.

How do you clean up shadow copies?

Clear Volume Shadow Copies on:

1. Click Start > Computer.
2. Right click on Local Disk C (C:) and select Properties.
3. Accept any alerts from Windows UAC.
4. Click the Disk Cleanup button.
5. Wait for Disk cleanup to finish calculating.
6. Select the More Options tab in the new window.

How do I reduce the size of a shadow copy?

Select Configure Shadow Copies...

2. Click on the Volume you want to enable Shadow Copies for, then click Settings. Under Storage Area, change the location to the additional disk you created in the Prerequisite Steps section of this document. You can also change the size limit of the volume copies.

How do I delete a volume shadow copy?

To delete volume shadow copies manually:

Select the drive where the shadow volume copies are located (typically, the drive where Windows Vista is installed), and click OK. On the More options tab, in the System Restore and Shadow Copies section, click Clean Up. Disk Cleanup prompts you to confirm the action.

How do I increase allocated shadow copy storage space?

Windows Desktop Machines

1. Open an elevated command prompt window by using the combination Windows Key + R, typing cmd,and hitting the "Enter" key.
2. Use the following command to change the shadow copy storage area: vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=x: /for=x: /maxsize=20%

How many shadow copies can exist?

The max number is of software shadow copies for each volume is 512. However, by default you can only maintain 64 shadow copies that are used by the Shadow Copies of Shared Folders feature. To change the limit for the Shadow Copies of Shared Folders feature, use the following registry key: MaxShadowCopies.

Where are volume shadow copies stored?

Volume Shadow Copies are stored on the System Volume Information folder on each drive that has protection enabled.

How do I remove shadow copies in Windows 10?

To delete all shadow copies:

1. Right click on This PC, then select Properties and System Protection. Or you can directly go to Control Panel > System and Security > System, then tap on System Protection in the System Properties window.
2. Click Configure.
3. In a new pop-up window, click Delete to delete all shadow copies.

Should I disable volume Shadowcopy?

It is not recommended to turn off Volume Shadow Copy. It manages and implements Volume Shadow Copies used for backup and other purposes. If this service is stopped, shadow copies will be unavailable for backup and the backup may fail.

What is shadow copy used for?

Shadow Copy (also known as Volume Snapshot Service, Volume Shadow Copy Service or VSS) is a technology included in Microsoft Windows that can create backup copies or snapshots of computer files or volumes, even when they are in use.