Win 7 Reinstall, Backup and Restore problem.

redrooster01 · 11 May 2015

I reinstalled win 7,on my computer to factory specs,then restored my files but a lot of my folders are now empty in Documents and my files in Documents cut out when the files get to D? As in ABCDEFG etc... Backup had previously been set to ""Let Windows decide"" (recommended). Win 7 was reinstalled because of an intractable virus that was continually changing my settings and stopping me from fixing it? I tried to restore the files from previous backups but I can only do one file at a time and Ive got hundreds of datasheets and service manuals etc...All my pictures folders are empty as well,is there a way to delete my corrupted documents and restore from another unaffected previous backup again? I cant work out how to do it and some help would be greatly appreciated. P.S. My backups go to a 1TB internal HD. I also have a 120GB USB HD with my music backups.

mjf · 12 May 2015

I'm assuming that you did a factory restore and not a system image restore. Also, you are now trying to restore file/folder backup data. I'm not sure why you have your problem but you can try the manual extract procedure. Note you don't need to manually pull out individual files files. Tutorial:
Backup - Manually Extract Files from in Vista & Windows 7

Also, with Windows backup I would not use the so call recommended "Let Windows decide" but select "Let me decide". In the backup configuration untick the automatic create a system image and leave the file/folder defaults. For system images I would create them manually using the "Create a System Image" button. See the tutorial
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
You may also want to consider the free Macrium Reflect for system images.

redrooster01 · 12 May 2015

How would I delete the folders and files in documents first because they only go to D! But theres still a lot of them. There is no E files or anything after that? It wasn't a system image restore that I did it was just the normal sort.

mjf · 12 May 2015

Try doing a manual restore to a different location. You should browse your backup set and make sure you have all the documents there in the first place. If not then you have a bad backup.

Then I would prefer to create another temp folder ideally on another non OS partition and do a manual restore of your documents and do your restore there.