I run Windows XP Professional on my laptop computer. It is new and does not
have any virus, spyware, malware, etc... When I insert my removeable mass
storage device or external hardrive into my machine, and unplug it and try to
do system restore it tells me "Changes to drive E:// after this point cannot
be reversed because the drive was either excluded from system restore
monitoring or was turned off or removed." I tried turning off system restore
and rebooting my computer, keeping the device plugged in while performing
system restore, and have used the "turned off" feature in system restore
settings, but, still, the same message keeps prompting me. I can't find any
answers to this problem on the internet, so if anyone can it would be greatly
appreciated.

Chuck Williams wrote:
> I run Windows XP Professional on my laptop computer. It
> is new and does not have any virus, spyware, malware,
> etc... When I insert my removeable mass storage device or
> external hardrive into my machine, and unplug it and try
> to do system restore it tells me "Changes to drive E://
> after this point cannot be reversed because the drive was
> either excluded from system restore monitoring or was
> turned off or removed.

It is a bad practice to let System Restore monitor an external hard drive. If any changes
are made to the external drive while it is not connected to the system, the next time it's
connected System Restore will find an inconsistency in the SR log and cause all existing
restore points to become corrupt and require there deletion.

> " I tried turning off system
> restore and rebooting my computer, keeping the device
> plugged in while performing system restore, and have used
> the "turned off" feature in system restore settings, but,
> still, the same message keeps prompting me. I can't find
> any answers to this problem on the internet, so if anyone
> can it would be greatly appreciated.

Turning System Restore off will purge all existing restore points. The can not be
retrieved.
The best advise is to not let System Restore monitor the external drive. The have also
been cases where System Restore will resume monitoring the external drive when it
reconnected to the system. So keep an eye on the drives status in System Restore.

All About System Restore in WinXP
http://bertk.mvps.org

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org