Windows 7: Restore from backup didn't restore all files

jazi · 19 Jul 2012

Hi there,

My work laptop was being changed from a Dell to a Lenovo and I was using Windows Backup & Restore to backup my important documents and emails. I took a final backup to my external hard drive before handing my old laptop to IT.

Once I restored all my files I noticed the following;

1. Some files were not the latest versions, i.e. they were a month old.
2. Some subfolders simply weren't there. I had two subfolder in one of my folders and only one was resotred and not the other. I made sure that I restored from the latest backup file.

Any ideas why this happened? I have lost faith in this program and am now looking for alternate soultions.

ignatzatsonic · 19 Jul 2012

I have no idea why it happened, but here are some alternatives for file and folder backup:

Karen's Replicator

Synctoy

Second Copy

FolderClone

Syncback

Freefilesync

None of these back up your Windows installation---they are for individual files and folders only.

DavidW7ncus · 19 Jul 2012

Did you re-boot before doing your latest backup?
Backup utilities often work with VSS (Shadow Copy) data.
Just guessing here, but your VSS data may not have been the latest data you worked with.

Shadow Copy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't use Windows Backup, and suggest using suggestions from ignatzatsonic going forward.

Windows 7: Restore from backup didn't restore all files

Restore from backup didn't restore all files problems?