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I recently did a System Restore, backing up the entire C: partition prior to via File History to load my files from afterwards.

  • In File History, I selected C: as an included folder to backup and now I can’t restore the files to their original location because File History keeps creating new backups under the new system name(s).

Is it possible to convert the File History save into an image I can boot from?

JW0914
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Obie A
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    You should be able to restore the files from the backup created . https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/55480-restore-files-folders-file-history-windows-10-a.html – John Jun 23 '20 at 13:00
  • See, my backup isn’t appearing in the list anymore. It was at some point but when I was copying them over, I realized it was creating a folder named “C_” under the main C drive directory and was copying everything into that folder so I halted the copy, did another system restore, and am stuck with a drive with all my files, timestamped, on it but no way to access them. – Obie A Jun 23 '20 at 13:44
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    You may have lost the backups then. Do you have another source of backup? – John Jun 23 '20 at 13:45
  • You restored your entire system disk with File History? How did exactly you accomplish that? File History typically only applies to user files. – Ramhound Jun 23 '20 at 14:01
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    Check in Windows Explorer options that you have hidden files turned ON to be sure you can see what is on your disk. – John Jun 23 '20 at 14:06
  • File History is not a full backup, so no, it's not possible, nor is it an efficient means of backing up an entire partition. File History is a mechanism to backup user data folders - for partition backups of the C: partition, that would be creating a WIM via DISM (see this, skipping Configure Partitions). It's not recommended to store the user data directories (%UserProfile%\Documents, %UserProfile%\Downloads, etc.) on C:, instead storing them on a different partition (Folder properties Location tab Enter new location Move) – JW0914 Jun 23 '20 at 14:14
  • Cont'd... AFAIK, File History cannot backup in-use system files, nor can you replace system files while they're in use (i.e. while booted to Windows), both of which is why this method is not possible. You also wouldn't want to restore such a backup after a restore, as that would defeat the purpose of the restore. The only efficient means of backing up a Windows OS partition is capturing a WIM via DISM, which is also why 3rd party cloning tools shouldn't be used. During the WIM capture, it also automatically skips temp folder locations, as temp folders & files shouldn't be in a backup. – JW0914 Jun 23 '20 at 14:28
  • Thanks guys, I've resorted to manually re-downloading/installing everything and reconstructing my files from File History, using Bulk Rename Utility to remove the timestamps. I'll make sure to properly backup next time. – Obie A Jun 23 '20 at 17:02
  • There are many free tools to create a complete disk image, e.g. Macrium Reflect. Use an image to save everything on a disk, including boot sectors that are required, bu not part of the C:\ drive. – DrMoishe Pippik Jun 23 '20 at 20:30
  • Just a quick update for closure: when copying files over directly from the FileHistory directory instead of through the windows prompt, I not only had to mass rename the files to remove the time stamps generated, but I also had to change the file attributes from read-only, as it seems File History makes them read-only. This made them work as if I had copied directly from one drive to another. – Obie A Jun 26 '20 at 07:36

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