Restoring Windows 10 file backup to new computer

Question

Restoring Windows 10 file backup to new computer

Anonymous

I had issues with an old computer acting bad. So while it was still working, I set up File Backups within Windows 10 so it would be continuously be backing up.

Then I decommissioned the computer, did a reset, and starting using a different computer, which I had also reset. BOTH computers use Windows 10 Home.

I am trying to restore the files from the old computer to the new computer. The first thing the new computer did when I started the Backup program was to create a new File Backup set, with only a few folders in it (since I have no files on this computer yet).

Now every time I try to start a Restore Using File History, it brings up the backup it created about 10 minutes ago.

The External Hard drive where my backups are located is attached, and I can see it in file explorer. But I can't see the backup sets in File Explorer. Only very old backups

How do I find and restore my backups? Everything is Windows 10.

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Answer 1

Hi alertcpr

My name is Andre Da Costa; an Independent Consultant, Windows Insider MVP and Windows & Devices for IT MVP. I'm here to help you with your problem.

Connect the external drive.

Press Windows key + R

Type: control

Hit Enter

Open File History

Click Select a drive

Click OK

Then you should be able to restore from the backup on that drive

See for more information:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

Answer 2

Hi CPR. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 9 year Windows MVP here to help you.

This is but one of the problems that cause the most experience experts to recommend NOT using File History because of the many cases we see where data is lost like this.

The actual restore process is outlined here:

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/restoring-...

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-cor...

File History, Windows file and Image backup are dysfunctional and may be phased out in a future version. But they're not the best choices anyway because after ten years in forums I've seen countless times that files are lost trying to restore them, so feel obligated to recommend choices that work much better and are 100% reliable.

The safest and most reliable method is to sort your files into their User Folders (Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Downloads, etc) and periodically drag or copy them to external or another hard drive.

Then have one other Cloud backup so your files are safe from fire and theft and easily accessible via the internet just like email. Some suggestions to help ease into this habit:

You can drag 5gb for free into OneDrive app to store in the cloud where they are safe from fire and theft. You can also choose to sync the Desktop, Pictures and Documents folders (only) in Settings > Autosave for real time backup.

If you install Google Drive, you can use their new Backup to choose User folders (Documents, Pictures, etc.) to sync up to 15g for free to their cloud in real time.

Or you can drag or copy them to a USB external or flash drive.

Here's how to drag, copy or move large groups of files: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2086566/the-man...

Besides your files you should back up a System Image to use in place of reinstall in 20 minutes. The best free alternative is Macrium: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7363/macrium-ref....

There is an easy way to mount the System Image to extract files if needed. Some prefer to move their User folders off of C to make the image smaller so they stay current if you need to reimage C. Here's how: http://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-syst...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and keep me posted. If you'll wait to rate whether my post helped you, I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

________________________________________________________

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Answer 3

I had issues with an old computer acting bad. So while it was still working, I set up File Backups within Windows 10 so it would be continuously be backing up.

Then I decommissioned the computer, did a reset, and starting using a different computer, which I had also reset. BOTH computers use Windows 10 Home.

I am trying to restore the files from the old computer to the new computer. The first thing the new computer did when I started the Backup program was to create a new File Backup set, with only a few folders in it (since I have no files on this computer yet).

Now every time I try to start a Restore Using File History, it brings up the backup it created about 10 minutes ago.

The External Hard drive where my backups are located is attached, and I can see it in file explorer. But I can't see the backup sets in File Explorer. Only very old backups

How do I find and restore my backups? Everything is Windows 10.

Answer 4

See Glen Gailey’s reply here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

The answer is still good for Windows 10.

He states:

I just had to try to do this, and I was able to (on a new Win8 machine) point at the previous backup by clicking Drives and then selecting my backup drive (a network share in my case). Then I was able to check "I want to use a previous backup on this File History drive" and it displayed my existing backups on that drive. Finally, I was able to do the regular (if not very intuitive) restore files by clicking the settings icon in the upper right of File History.

I hope this helps.

Answer 5

Ok, that found the real backup. It shows two backups on the external drive, the one that jus got created this morning as I tried to get to the real backup, and the original backup from a couple of days ago. So Now I found them.

For some reason when I went to file backup before by typing "Restore your Files with File History" in the search panel, it would only take me to a panel with icons representing the areas backed up from the file history backup that got created this morning, with no way I could find to get to the other backup with all the files in it. This works great.

Steve

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Restoring Windows 10 file backup to new computer

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