- Overview
- Selecting a File and Folder Backup to Restore
- Select the Folders and Files that you want to Restore
- Where do you want to restore to?
Overview
File and folder backups are a convenient way to quickly backup specific files and folders. They are not intended for operating system backup; as a result, will generally not be used when recovering a failed operating system. This means that most often, file and folder backups will be restored using the Macrium Reflect LTSC application that has been installed in Windows; the steps to do this are detailed in this article. File and folder backups can be restored using the rescue media by following the same steps while booted using the rescue media.
Selecting a File and Folder Backup to Restore
First, select the file and folder backup that will be restored on the 'Existing Backups' tab of Macrium Reflect. Macrium Reflect will search recent backup locations for image files and display them on the 'Existing Backups' tab. If the backup that will be restored is not visible, additional paths can be searched by using the 'Edit' button:
In the window that opens, enter the path to the backup and then select 'Add to list'.
After selecting 'OK', any backups found in the path will be displayed in the 'Existing Backups' tab.
Alternatively, backup files can be found using Windows Explorer by selecting 'Browse for an image file...':
In the Explorer window that opens, navigate to where the backup file(s) are located, select the backup that will be restored, then select 'Open':
The backup and any other backups that are part of the same backup set will be loaded into the 'Existing Backups' tab.
Next, select the file and folder backup that will be restored, then select 'Restore':
When restoring incremental and differential file and folder backups, only the backup that you want to restore needs to be selected. Macrium Reflect will automatically handle previous backups in the set, meaning that backups can be restored in a single pass.
The Restore Wizard
Select the Folders and Files that you want to Restore
After selecting 'Restore', the file and folder backup restore wizard will open. On the first page of the wizard, the folder structure that was included in the file and folder backup will be displayed:
The folders can be expanded to view the subfolders that were included in the backup. The checkbox next to each file and folder can be used to specify what will be included in the file and folder backup restore:
Where do you want to restore to?
On the next page of the wizard, specify the options for this restore, including the destination of the restore and whether file and folder metadata and NTFS permissions will also be restored:
| Option | Description |
| Original Location | When selected, files and folders will be restored to the same location they were backed up from. If the original files and folders still exist, they will be overwritten during the restore. |
| New Location | Choose a new root folder where the folder structure and the selected files will be restored to. |
| Parent folders to restore |
When restoring to a new location, this option can be used to select which parent folders in the restore hierarchy are copied to the new location.
If the files are in multiple folders, the contents of the common parent folder will be copied, including the folders that contain the selected files to restore. |
| File replace option | Specify whether all files in the destination are replaced or only the files that have changed since the file and folder backup was created. |
| Restore folder create and modified dates | When selected, the original 'Date created' and 'Date modified' metadata are restored to the target folders. If this option is left unchecked, the 'Date created' and 'Date modified' metadata of the folders may reflect the time that the restore was performed. |
| Restore NTFS permissions |
- If all the selected files to restore are in the same folder, then this will copy the files directly to the new location, for example, to the root of 'D:\'.Restore Summary
On the final page of the wizard, a summary of the restore that is about to take place will be displayed. Select 'Finish' to start the restore:
