Size of System Volume Information


StevenD

New member
Local time
7:50 AM
Posts
5
OS
Windows 11 Home
Hello,

On my new laptop I found out that the System Volume Information folder on my drive is taking up 93GB of space.

Using the command "vssadmin list shadows", I can see these are all shadow copy sets.
The first one was created on 03/06/2022. Then everyday I used the laptop an extra set was created, until 19/06/2022.

They are all of type "ApplicationRollback", and have the Attributes "Persistent, No auto release, Differential, Auto recovered".

I understand that type "ApplicationRollback" means that it's not the OS which has created the shadow set, but some client program.

So I have the following questions:
- How can I find out which program created these sets
- How can I remove them (I understand vssadmin can't remove sets of type "ApplicationRollback"


Thanks in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    DELL XPS15 9520
If your laptop is Intel based and using Intel WIFI, iGPU, LAN ect then I would bet those are the driver rollbacks for updated Intel components.
From 03 - 19 is 16 days so you should be able to see from Windows Update, history, drivers, if any of those components have been updated and when, possibly make some sense of it.
You could also check the device manager and see which major components have the rollback button enabled.
If you use Treesize free or a similar app run with elevated privileges you could poke around the actual files in the shadow copy sets and open some property pages or load a few in notepad looking for identifiers.
There may well be a simpler method but I am not aware of one at this time.
As for removing them, I wouldn't bother, chances are they will be recreated the next time you run Windows update.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 22H2, build: 22621.521
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Scan 3XS Custom 1700
    CPU
    Intel i7-12700K 3.6GHz Base (5.0GHz Turbo)
    Motherboard
    Asus ProArt Creator B660 D4
    Memory
    64GB DDR 3600Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Tuff RTX 3080 10GB OC
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gigabyte G32QC 32inch 16:9 curved @2560 x 1440p 165Hz Freesync Premium Pro/ Dell SE2422H 24inch 16:9 1920 x 1080p 75Hz Freesync
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440p & 1920 x 1080p
    Hard Drives
    WD SN570 1TB NVME (Boot), Samsung 870QVO 1TB (SSD), SanDisk 3D Ultra 500Gb (SSD) x2, Seagate 3Tb Expansion Desk (Ext HDD), 2x Toshiba 1Tb P300 (Ext HDD)
    PSU
    Corsair RM1000X Modular
    Case
    Corsair 4000D Airflow Desktop
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H150i RGB Pro XT 360mm Liquid Cooler, 3 x 120mm fans, 1x Exhaust
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Ergonomic
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Internet Speed
    800Mbs
    Browser
    Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
Hello,

On my new laptop I found out that the System Volume Information folder on my drive is taking up 93GB of space.

Using the command "vssadmin list shadows", I can see these are all shadow copy sets.
The first one was created on 03/06/2022. Then everyday I used the laptop an extra set was created, until 19/06/2022.

They are all of type "ApplicationRollback", and have the Attributes "Persistent, No auto release, Differential, Auto recovered".

I understand that type "ApplicationRollback" means that it's not the OS which has created the shadow set, but some client program.

So I have the following questions:
- How can I find out which program created these sets
- How can I remove them (I understand vssadmin can't remove sets of type "ApplicationRollback"


Thanks in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
If your laptop is Intel based and using Intel WIFI, iGPU, LAN ect then I would bet those are the driver rollbacks for updated Intel components.
From 03 - 19 is 16 days so you should be able to see from Windows Update, history, drivers, if any of those components have been updated and when, possibly make some sense of it.
You could also check the device manager and see which major components have the rollback button enabled.
If you use Treesize free or a similar app run with elevated privileges you could poke around the actual files in the shadow copy sets and open some property pages or load a few in notepad looking for identifiers.
There may well be a simpler method but I am not aware of one at this time.
As for removing them, I wouldn't bother, chances are they will be recreated the next time you run Windows update.

Hi,

Thanks for the hints.

Checked windows update history, but there is no correlation between update times and the shadow set timestamps.
Checked device manager, and some devices have indeed the rollback button enabled, but 93GB (!!!) of driver rollback information seems excessive :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    DELL XPS15 9520
93GB isn't that excessive really, considering the Intel iGPU driver package for 12th Gen at least is 1.4GB +, this is comparable to Nvidia's driver package, both support a range of devices, it all depends on which parts of the driver need to be held for rollback.
Try RAPR (DriverStoreExplorer) to see whether you can identify duplicate driver entries (but different versions) and maybe removing one from the Driver Store will remove the corresponding rollback entry.
I suggest making a full system image and a boot disk (and test it) before performing any changes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 22H2, build: 22621.521
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Scan 3XS Custom 1700
    CPU
    Intel i7-12700K 3.6GHz Base (5.0GHz Turbo)
    Motherboard
    Asus ProArt Creator B660 D4
    Memory
    64GB DDR 3600Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Tuff RTX 3080 10GB OC
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gigabyte G32QC 32inch 16:9 curved @2560 x 1440p 165Hz Freesync Premium Pro/ Dell SE2422H 24inch 16:9 1920 x 1080p 75Hz Freesync
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440p & 1920 x 1080p
    Hard Drives
    WD SN570 1TB NVME (Boot), Samsung 870QVO 1TB (SSD), SanDisk 3D Ultra 500Gb (SSD) x2, Seagate 3Tb Expansion Desk (Ext HDD), 2x Toshiba 1Tb P300 (Ext HDD)
    PSU
    Corsair RM1000X Modular
    Case
    Corsair 4000D Airflow Desktop
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H150i RGB Pro XT 360mm Liquid Cooler, 3 x 120mm fans, 1x Exhaust
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Ergonomic
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Internet Speed
    800Mbs
    Browser
    Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Defender, Malwarebytes
93GB isn't that excessive really, considering the Intel iGPU driver package for 12th Gen at least is 1.4GB +, this is comparable to Nvidia's driver package, both support a range of devices, it all depends on which parts of the driver need to be held for rollback.
Try RAPR (DriverStoreExplorer) to see whether you can identify duplicate driver entries (but different versions) and maybe removing one from the Driver Store will remove the corresponding rollback entry.
I suggest making a full system image and a boot disk (and test it) before performing any changes.
I have intel 12th Gen and NVideo graphics... and yes they are both 1.5 GB.
But 93GB >>>> 3GB.

All other driver packages are small.

When I select "Old drivers" in Driver Store Explorer, it only select tiny driver packages.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    DELL XPS15 9520
Hmm.. this morning another shadow set has been created, increasing the total size to 104GB

Nothing has been installed or updated today. Really would like to know what is eating up my SSD storage space.

Decide to try the "vssadmin delete shadows /for=C: /oldest" command and to my suprise it did delete the shadow set even though it's op type ApplicationRollback.
So I delete all but the most recent shadow set.

Still have no clue at all what is creating this sets.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    DELL XPS15 9520

Latest Support Threads

Back
Top Bottom