Restore files and folders in Windows 7 and 8

If you need to restore files or folders, run Backup and Restore by opening Start menu (press Ctrl+Esc on your keyboard) and typing "backup" into Search box. Click Backup and Restore.

In Windows 8, open Settings search using keyboard shortcut WINDOWS KEY+W, type "windows 7" and click Windows 7 File Recovery.

To restore files or folders, click Restore my files in Restore section.

Please do not forget that Windows 7 users have the Previous Versions feature working automatically: this might be an easier way to recover your overwritten or deleted files. Windows 8 users have a similar feature - File History - that needs to be set up manually first.

Selecting a backup by date and files and folders to restore

By default, all files or folders to be restored are selected from the very latest backup. If you want to restore something from an older backup, click Choose a different date.

In Restore Files window, select a time frame to show older backups from the Show backups from box. By default, Last week is selected.

Next, select the backup date you want to use and click OK.

Note that now the Browse or search your backup for files and folders to restore window displays the selected date and time.

Selecting files and folder to restore

If you don't remember exactly where the files or folders you want to restore were, click Search...:

Type full or partial keyword(s) into Search for: field and click the Search button.

If search results contain the item(s) you need to restore, click to select it; or use Select all button to select all items in the list. Then click OK to add the item(s) to the list of files and folders to be restored.

If you want to, you can also find files or folders to restore yourself. Click either Browse for files or Browse for folders button for this.

In Browse the backup for files window find and click the item(s) you want to restore and click Add files button.

Alternatively, if you click Browse for folders button, a Browse the backup for folders or drives window opens where you can add selected folders to the list of items to be restored by clicking Add folder button. As you can see, you can also restore the whole contents of a hard disk drive unless it is the drive Windows is installed on (aka System Drive). Use system image restore for restoring the whole Windows 7 or 8 installation.
At first the root folder of the latest backup opens. Double-click the hard drive where the folder to recover is.

Users' documents, videos, photos, music and other items are located in Users folder of drive C. Find the folder you need to restore, click it once and then click Add folder button.

Note that you can remove individual items from the list by clicking on them and then clicking Remove button. To clear the whole list, use Remove all button.
If the list of all files and folders to be restored is complete, click Next.

Restoring files and folders to the original location

The next question is: where do you want to restore your files? If you deleted folders or files and you want to restore them to the folder they were in previously, leave In the original location selected. If files and folders with the same name still exist, you will be asked whether you want to overwrite the files or folders.
Click Restore.

The restoration process will begin. If files with same name already exist, Copy File prompt will open.
If you want to overwrite the existing file with the file from the backup, click Copy and Replace.
If you want to keep the file already present, click Don't copy.
If you want to compare the existing file with the file from the backup, click Copy, but keep both files. The file restored will get a "(2)" added to its name.
If you know you want to use the same answer for all upcoming questions, check the Do this for all conflicts box before clicking a button. Be careful with this option!

After files and folders have been restored, click Finish.

Restoring files and folders to alternate location

If you want to compare files and folders in the backup with the files already present, it is recommended to restore them to a different folder.

To do this, select In the following location: in Where do you want to restore your files window.
If you want to recreate the whole folder tree in the alternate location, check the Restore the files to their original subfolders box. For example, you select C:\Restored as your alternate location. If you now restore a file named Test.txt from your Documents folder there, this creates the whole folder tree like this: C:\Restored\C\Users\<your name>\Documents\Test.txt. If you do not select the check box, the file will be restored to C:\Restored\Test.txt.
Click Browse... to select the alternate folder.

In Browse For Folder window select an empty folder. You can also click the Make New Folder button to create one. Type the name for the new folder and press Enter key on your keyboard to accept the new name.
Then click OK to select the folder for an alternate restore location.

Now click Restore to begin restoring the selected files and folders.

After the items have been restored, click View restored files to open the alternate restore folder.