File restoration, also known as file recovery or file recovery software, is a process used to retrieve deleted, lost, or corrupted files from storage devices such as hard drives, USB drives, memory cards, or SSDs. It is commonly employed in the following scenarios:

• Accidental file deletion: When you unintentionally delete important files or folders, file restoration can help you recover those files. It scans the storage device, locates the deleted files, and restores them to their original or specified location.
• Formatting storage devices: If you accidentally delete files while formatting a storage device (such as a hard drive or USB flash drive), file restoration can attempt to recover those files. It scans the storage area of the device and recovers recoverable files.
• Storage device failure: When a storage device experiences a failure (such as a damaged hard drive or corrupted file system) that renders files inaccessible, file restoration can attempt to recover files from the faulty device. It utilizes professional data recovery tools to rebuild file structures and extract recoverable files.
• Virus or malware attack: After suffering from a virus or malware attack, files may be encrypted, damaged, or deleted. File restoration can attempt to recover these affected files, making them accessible again.
• Retrieving previous versions of files: Sometimes, you may need to revert to an older version of a file, for example, when you realize that changes made to the file were incorrect or unnecessary. File restoration can help you recover previous versions of files, allowing you to restore to an earlier state.

How to Restore Files or Folders with CBackup in Windows 10

Prerequisites for File Restore

Before restoration, there are some things you need to know.

CBackup file restore is based on CBackup file backup. You should already have at least one file image made by CBackup (whatever the source file is, the current crashed one, or a file on another computer). CBackup does not recognize file images made by Windows or other software.

Nominally, users should recover using the file Backup image created on their current failed operating system.  If the PC fails to boot or has crashed, you can create a WinPE bootable media using CBackup on another healthy computer and then boot the crashed PC from the WinPE bootable media to run the file restore under WinPE.

We strongly recommend that users create a WinPE bootable media once they start to use CBackup. Such bootable media should be created and kept in a safe place in order to boot a failed computer. Otherwise, not having the required bootable media might result in not being able to recover your computer at all. 

If you don't have these items, please download CBackup and prepare what you need.

Step 1: Initialize Restore

In the left tab, select Restore and then click Select Task. If the backup task is not listed, you can click Select Image File to manually select an image file in the destination path.

Step 2: Select File Backup

Select the file backup item that you want to restore from the list box, then click Next to continue.

Step 3: Select Backup Version and Files to Restore

Choose the backup image version according to the backup time point, select the files or folders you want to restore, and click Next.

Tips: If there are different versions of incremental/differential backups, you can just select the right version of incremental/differential backup you need to restore. (There is no need to separately select full+incremental/differential backups to restore. Just select the right full/incremental/differential backup version to restore. )

Step 4: Select Destination Path and Start Restore

Select a destination path to save the files. You can choose whether to  "Restore to original location" or "Restore to a new location". You may also tick "Replace existing files" to overwrite existing files with the same name. 

Click Start Restore to execute this task.

Restore Files and Folders under WinPE

If your system is unable to boot or you have to restore files under WinPE in some cases, you can first create a WinPE bootable media with CBackup on a working PC and boot your PC into WinPE to run file restore.