# Windows backup from a previous computer
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 26, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501 "2020-11-26T14:51:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501/1 "2020-11-26T14:51:15Z")
Hi!
My sister has a new laptop. Her previous laptop was backing up her files regularly, and I can find the files on her external drive. So far, so good. The problem is that the backup directories have multiple copies of the files in the same directory, with a different time stamp at the end.
How can I restore those files to the new computer, just the latest copy, without the timestamp in the file name?
File History only finds the backups from the new computer.
Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501/2 "2020-11-26T15:30:13Z")
What backup software does she use? I would first assume that it includes a convenient script to restore files from backup.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501/3 "2020-11-26T15:43:07Z")
She just used Windows File History.
I was able to point to the old backup directory, but it’s giving me an error message saying it can’t find any backups. Grrr.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501/4 "2020-11-26T15:48:10Z")
The error is “We found errors in your file history.”
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501/5 "2020-11-26T18:27:55Z")
I’d be inclined to remove the old laptop HD and put it in an external case, plug it in to the new computer, and let the OS recognize and pull in files and settings. I think they all have migration tools for that, and the native HD is probably easier for it to deal with than a perhaps-too-confusing backup.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501/6 "2020-11-27T14:09:52Z")
The problem is that the old laptop drive was failing, and that’s why she has a new laptop. Otherwise, that would definitely be the way to go.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501/7 "2020-11-27T16:09:53Z")
With a bit of scripting skill it would be easy enough to write a script that would paw through all the name+timestamp files on the old drive, find the newest, strip the timestamp off to recover the base filename, and copy it to the corresponding path & base filename on the new drive.
I have to suspect this script is out there for the googling; lots of folks have depended on Window File History and have replaced their drives.
I am not familiar with the details of WFH, but I would not be surprised to find that only certain types of files and only files from certain apps are backed up by it. So she may be unhappily surprised at how incomplete her “backup” actually is.
IOW, WFH is _not_ a “backup solution”. It’s an “oops recovery” solution for certain common oopses.
Good luck to you both. Seriously, not sarcastically.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-backup-from-a-previous-computer/926501/8 "2020-11-27T16:27:45Z")
Thanks! Lots of Googling haven’t turned up the script yet, but maybe I can cobble one together.