Solved File History Question: Restore from HD crash

I have a (big) question about file history.

I have file history set up and running to an external hard drive, happily saving each version of any changed or new data files in the various libraries. I am able to go back and recover older versions of edited or deleted files. All of this I think I have a handle on.

OK, now imagine that one day my hard drive grinds it's heads into the platters, dying a fast death with no recovery possible. I buy a new drive and restore Windows 8 to the way it was when I first got my computer using the saved system restore I have on a USB drive (My PC is an Acer Aspire M5 481PT-6644). So far so good.

Here is my question: how do I re-link this new installation to the existing File History database on the external drive so that I can restore my precious data? I have searched and cannot find whether this is possible and if so what is the process like.

I have gotten burned in the past by thinking I was backing up my work only to find the backups wouldn't work when I needed them. I do not want to fall for this again!

Thanks in advance for any light anyone can shed on this.

Hello Mikey, and welcome to Eight Forums.

When you setup File History again in the new installation and select the drive that had your File History on from the previous installation, it will be recognized and you will have access to them again as usual through File History.

Plus, File History saves your files in the Data folder in the selected local or network drive at the location below, so you can always manually navigate, view, and copy files back from your saved File History.

(selected drive)\File History\(user-name)\(computer-name)\Data\C\Users


http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...store-previous-file-versions-windows-8-a.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for the info! I was hoping this was the way it would work, now I feel better.

You're welcome.

I keep a 3T external drive connected and have created Libraries of all my partitions. I'm counting on this ability to re-connect File History to this drive if my computer ever fails. It's good to have confirmation that it will work when needed. To me, File History may be the best reason for using 8.