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One of the nice things about Vista Ultimate is the ability to easily use the ‘Previous Versions’ tools that are built into the operating system.

Previous Versions (Also known as Volume Shadow Copy) is a feature that was introduced in Server2003, and a precursor of it exists in Windows XP as ‘System Restore’. On server 2003 the software would automatically record changes made to files, and store the differences for either a predetermined amount of time, or until the allocated backup disk space was used up. The allocated space could actually be quite small since only ‘block level’ changes are stored.

Here is a screenshot of Windows XP, showing Server2003 Previous Versions of a shared folder:

Here is a screenshot of Windows Vista Shadowcopy:

The thing is, who wants to buy the Ultimate version of Vista in order to use this? I’m perfectly happy with Vista Home Premium myself, and know a few people running Vista Home Basic. However, after seeing how nice Previous Version works with Vista on the computers at work (and after setting up shadow copy on my Windows Servers) I kind of wanted it to function on the home version.

So, armed with the knowledge that System Restore used the Shadow Copy service I started to do some Google searches. It seems I wasn’t alone. An enterprising group of people have developed “Shadow Explorer” Although it lacks the slick user interface that Vista and Server2003 offer, it definitely is usable.

You can find more information about this product here. Download available here.

Please remember that shadowcopy is not a replacement for remembering to back your shit up. If your hard disk fails, the shadowcopies die with it.

I’m always looking for information on more programs of this sort, for either Win2k, WinXP or Vista. If you have a program you think I could benefit from please let me know by leaving a comment on this post. The only requirements I have are that the programs are cool, free, and spyware free.