View files from a backup

davidturnbull05

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Aug 8, 2014
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I have two backups of data stored on an external hard drive. I would like to be able to see the data that is on those backups without compromising what is already on my computer's internal hard drive. In layman's terms, I would like to keep what I have on my computer without any BS and take a quick look at what is on my old backups without removing the state of my current C and D drives...for example. I'd like to see what are on the backups. And I'd like to do this without clocking out $400 or so for another machine.

I'd like to be able to take a look at my old college notes and get a kick on what is on there without having to manually going back to college. No one likes to repeat stages in life again. I'd like to save time and money by not going back and buying old college textbooks. This is more of an intellectual property type of mission.

How do I go about doing this?

I would like to see what is on a backup without actually erasing the data and files that I actually have on my machine.

I have a Lenovo Yoga Ideapad 13, 64 bit with an i5 processor and Windows 8.1 (Home/Basic). I cannot create a virtual Hard Drive.

My backups were created on Windows XP.
 

davidturnbull05

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Aug 8, 2014
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The backup is a set of 94 .zip files with a global catalog WBCAT file. There are a set of 94 WBCAT files and 94 WBVERIFY files.

In XP I could use system restore and it would unpack everything automatically and restore to the specific date and time of the backup
 

davidturnbull05

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Aug 8, 2014
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Time sensitive issue. The XP model is in the shop. 7 days to get fixed. What I want is a virtual hard drive, software which reads data from past backup and sorts it without wasting time moving files one by one, or a method on my existing Windows 8.1 (Basic...not Pro or any other BS) that will allow me to see what is in my backup.

The backup files is sorted in two folders:

-Backup [94 .zip files]
-Catalog [catalog for the 94 .zip files]
 

davidturnbull05

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Aug 8, 2014
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No. I ended up using 7zip to extract all the files.

Attempted to try ntbackup. Again, files are in .zip form. ntbackup does not read .zip files.

7zip is extracting the files. 106 kb/s for 12333 mb = FOREVER.

I do not have 34 hours and regular, manual extraction of the .zip files seems the way to go.

This is about the data. I want it done quickly.

What would the Windows XP install software allow?