Recover a Windows 8 installation from a Windows.old

So, my laptop first had Win 7, then I installed Win w shortly after, but I've been having problems, and like a leek ago I got back to Win 7. But later I found out the problem had nothing to do with Win 8, and now I want to come back to Win 8 without having to start over. I still have the Windows.old here, and I've googled how to do it, but all "Win 8 Windows.old related" stuff I found were actually to come back to Win 7, not the inverse. So, is there a way to boot from Windows.old or something, or all I can do is just recover my personal stuff from there?

Thanks.

I wouldnt bother restoring from the .old folder it'll leave you with a very tempremental buggy OS. I know because ive tried it , shortcuts dont work file associations screw up files go missing and i ended up with two of everything ha ha. Trust me on this its a bad idea

Best to reupgrade your system instead of recovering from the .old folder.

Okay then, thanks for the help. But is there a "safe" way to backup a Windows OS?

You can use the Windows system image, as the Bootable Recovery CD/DVD/USB.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/8956-system-image-create-windows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5132-recovery-drive-create-usb-flash-drive-windows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2855-system-repair-disc-create-windows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/9044-backup-restore-files-folders-windows-8-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...overy-restore-image-computer-windows-8-a.html

or

I would look for a 3rd party Partitioning,Backup & Cloning software, which fully supports Windows 8, uEFI, GPT & Secure Boot.
Which is signed by Microsoft.