How can I access these two folders?

Question

Let me begin by saying:
I have checked/unchecked all of the necessary boxes to allow maximum folder viewing.

Ok. I have Windows Vista. There are two folders which deny me access, because they are for backup I guess:

"RRbackups" and "System Volume Information"

These folders are taking up 40 gigabytes of space, and I would love to look inside of them, because I'm thinking about just backing up my hard drive on some discs or something. Does anyone know how I can access these folders? Thanks!

Answer 1

Yes there is. You need to be a local administrator on the machine to be able to view them though. Just right click on the folder and go into Sharing and Security. On the Security tab, add your user and click on Apply. It will ask you if you want to enable Folder Views. Say yes and now you should be able to browse the folder(s).

However, both these folders are very sensitive for the stable operation of Windows. RRBackups is also a standard folder on Windows Vista and it holds backups of important files. So dont mess around too much with them.

I would just disable System Restore if I didnt want it to take up 40 GBs. Just google for disabling System Restore and you should be able to find something on it.

All the best!

Answer 2

The "System Volume Information" holds information on how the hard drive is formatted and where files are located. If you were to remove or alter that file, you would lose access to most or all of the files on your computer. That is why you can not access the folder - Windows does not want you to be able to change it. The folder is normally very tiny, and removing it would not gain you enough space to be worth it. Leave the folder alone.

RRBackups is not a standard Windows folder. I suspect (from the name) that it may be a folder which continues the information needed to restore the computer to its original "from the factory" condition in the cast of a crash. The large size of the folder would support that idea.