How to move “System Volume Information” directory to another partition technically (without any side-effect)?

Published July 7, 2010

Question by sh_mpa: How to move “System Volume Information” directory to another partition technically (without any side-effect)?
To increase my HDD speed I regularly run defragmenter and to reduce fragmentation on my system partition I’ve moved all system folders to other partitions except \System Volume Information\ which is the only source of fragmentation on my system partition. Is here anyone who knows “How to move “System Volume Information” directory to another partition technically (without any side-effect)?

Best answer:

Answer by MLM
The System Volume Information file contains System Restore and is a critical operating system file which should be left intact in its default location. If you try to move it, you may end up corrupting your Windows OS.

I would recommend dumping the contents of the System Volume Information file by deleting old System Restore points and creating a new one. This might fix the fragmentation issue.

Go to Control Panel, System, System Restore tab and tickmark “Turn off system restore on all drives”. Click Apply, Click OK and reboot. When you log back on, repeat the steps and re-enable system restore. This process will purge older restore points.

You can also limit the amount of disk space reserved for system restore. To do this follow the same steps above but when on the System Restore tab, click the Settings button. There you can choose how much disk space is reserved for system restore points but make sure you don’t set it at zero or you won’t have any restore points to choose from when need be.

For Vista, the process is more complicated. See the link below:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/decrease_storage_space-allocated_to_system_restore.htm

If that doesn’t fix the fragmentation problem, it may already be corrupted so you might want to consider running a System File Checker (SFC). This can also be run in Safe Mode should you prefer.

To get into Safe Mode, reboot and then either hold down or tap the F8 key repeatedly while the computer is starting up. To run SFC, close all applications such as Office, Messenger, Email, etc, and go to:

– Start
– Run
– Type in sfc /scannow (include the space before the ” / “)

What SFC does is that it attempts to fix or replace critical operating system files. Sometimes this can be done without the installation disk, however it may prompt you for the appropriate operating system installation disk. If that is the case, then you know that you definitely have major file corruption or something missing. Insert the disk if prompted. Also you should run SFC using the Administrator account.

If you have the Vista operating system, the steps are a bit different due to the UAC. See the link below.
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/system_file_checker.htm

Don’t surf, play games or do anything while SFC runs. After it is completed, reboot your computer.

One of the major culprits in missing or corrupt operating system files is running a registry cleaner or optimizer. They can flag important shared files for deletion or cleanup. Another cause is malware.

NOTE: Before running any registry cleaner or editing the registry, always ensure you back it up first. If the registry cleaner you are using doesn’t have that function, you can do it manually. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756

What do you think? Answer below!