How to explore or browse Files backed up using Windows Backup?

I had backed up files on my Desktop having Windows 7 Ultimate with Windows Backup. I urgently need a specific file which I had kept in My Documents, and which was being backed-up.

Right now I do not have access to the desktop, but I do have the external disk on which I had backed up. On looking at the backup files, I can see that they are basically folders, and some zip files which contain the data. However there does not seem to be a way of easily exploring or browsing through the various files to get the latest copy of the required file.

If I look at the files on a system with Windows 7, I can only restore the entire backup, which I do not want to do.

Is there any way of browsing through the Windows Backup files and searching for a specific file?


If you have a File backup as I have, then you can follow these steps to browse or search through your backup.

  1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , and typing Backup. Select Backup and Restore from the search results.

  2. Click Select another backup to restore files from, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

  3. You can search or browse for a particular file or folder.

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