Many users very often see incomprehensible files and folders on the computer and wonder what is it? System Volume Information (system folder) is no exception. What it is intended for is also not known to everyone. Let's try to figure out what's what.
What is it: System Volume Information?
To begin with, each user has encountered, or at least heard about, such a thing as “system recovery.” And many do not need to explain what it is. System Volume Information is just the folder that contains all the data to roll back the system to the desired control point.
Naturally, its size can be quite large due to the periodicity of creating intermediate recovery points. That is why some "advanced" users, without realizing what it is, System Volume Information just barbarously trying to delete because of the weighty size of the folder.
Doing this categorically should not. In addition, you need to understand that there can be several such folders on the entire hard drive. It all depends on the number of logical partitions into which the hard disk is divided. For each volume, its own folder is created containing comprehensive information on system recovery and data stored on disks.
A little later we will consider, so to speak, more civilized methods that allow you to painlessly clean such directories without any damage to the system as a whole.
Where and how to find the System Volume Information directory?
As expected, this object is a folder hidden from the eyes of an ordinary user. This is natural, because, as we have already noticed, you should not climb into it. No, of course, the user can delete the System Volume Information folder, but we already understand that nothing good will come of it.
So, first you need to enable the display of hidden objects. This is done in the "Tools" menu, where the "View" tab is selected in the folder options. In the settings window, you must also enable the option to display such folders and files, and then save the changes made.
Now, if you go to the root directory of any drive or logical partition, up to this point you can see the hidden information directory.
System Volume Information: how to clear a folder?
Now let's see what is cleaning the contents of the folder. Let's look at the System Volume Information directory. How to delete a folder, or rather, its contents? There is nothing easier.
You can use standard Windows tools for this. Here you need to go into the system properties, called through the computer icon on the desktop, right-click, and use the system protection menu. In the main settings window, all disks and logical partitions available in the system will be indicated. Select the drive for which you want to delete information, and then use the settings button.
In the window that opens, we are not interested in the set parameters. Everything is much simpler here. You just need to click the “Delete” button and confirm your choice after a system request.
Along the way, it is worth saying that the slider located just above can change the amount of reserved disk space to save copies (images) of the state of disks and partitions, set by default.
However, it is immediately worth noting that after deleting all the information, some data after critical Windows failures cannot be restored. So before cleaning, you should think about the appropriateness of the actions taken.
What to do if there is no access to the folder?
In some cases, when trying to access this system directory, a situation may occur when the system displays a ban message. Most often this applies to user accounts that do not have administrator rights to a computer or network. But you can get around these restrictions.
Here, we need to, after right-clicking on the folder icon, select the properties section and on the security tab click the "Change" button. In the new permissions window for the group, you need to add a new user using the corresponding button and select an account from the list that appears. For complete confidence, the uchetka can be checked immediately.
Now it's up to the small. You just need to put checkboxes on the present fields, first of all, opposite the full access parameter, and apply the changes. However, for the permission system, you can use the same Group Policy Editor, but this method is clearly simpler in this case.
Conclusion
So, we examined one of the most important objects of the Windows operating systems and figured out what it is. System Volume Information (in this case we will describe this term as “system information”), as already understood, is responsible for data recovery options, so it is recommended to delete the contents of a folder only in extreme or emergency cases.
In this case, it is necessary to use only the method of cleaning the contents and the use of Windows tools and in no case should you try to remove it manually, since it is not an hour, the whole system will “crash”. And to engage in its restoration after this can be quite painstaking work. So it turns out that even before safe cleaning, you should think about the possible consequences a hundred times.