No 1 really has to tell you lot that information technology'southward of import to dorsum up the data on your hard disk. With tools like File History and Create A System Image at your disposal, protecting your data is easy. The hard part often is remembering to employ these tools regularly.

Recently a friend of mine let his backup routine slide. He was using File History to save his data on a weekly footing and creating a organisation image of his hard disk every couple of months. For some reason, he stopped using File History merely kept up his system image routine. Certain enough he encountered a trouble and lost some files that were very important.

Information technology was and then that he realized his fault in forgetting to follow his File History routine. The files he needed were not on his most contempo File History fill-in, which was several months old by this fourth dimension, but the files were backed upwardly on the system image stored on an external hd. He was ready to restore his whole hard disk from a system image to retrieve those files, when I told him I knew a amend style to go about the task past taking reward of Windows x'southward native VHD support. Allow's take a closer await.

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Some background information

A VHD is a virtual hard disk drive that is nearly notably used with virtual PC programs like Windows 10's Customer Hyper-V. And since Windows 10 lets y'all piece of work natively work with VHD and ISO files, you can mount them simply by double-clicking on them in File Explorer. When you practise, the operating arrangement creates a virtual bulldoze from the file, assigns a bulldoze letter, and makes the bulldoze bachelor in Figurer.

What you may non know is that a VHD is at the eye of a arrangement image of your hard disk. In other words, when y'all create a system image, the operating arrangement actually creates a VHD file and stores the contents of the hard disk in it.

Yous can create a organisation image on a set of DVD discs, on an external hard disk drive, or on a network drive. When you use a set of DVDs, the VHD file is cleaved up into pieces and stored on multiple discs. However, when you create a arrangement image on an external hard disk drive or on a network drive, you lot finish up with a single VHD file.

Considering a arrangement prototype on a set of DVD discs contains a VHD file that is broken into pieces, the native VHD support can't mount the VHD. By itself, Windows 10 tin can't put the pieces together. Yet, since a organization image on an external hard disk drive or on a network drive is a single VHD file, yous can mountain it and easily access the files that it contains.

This ways that in Windows 10, you can restore individual files from a system image. Of course, there are a few tricks necessary to make this happen.

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Attach the VHD

To brand this work, you lot need to utilise Deejay Direction the first time you admission a VHD in a system image. From that point forward, the VHD volition be recognized by the operating organization and you tin access it directly from File Explorer.

To begin, press [Windows]+X to bring up the Kickoff button's context menu and select Disk Management, every bit shown in Effigy A. When the tool launches, pull downwardly the Action menu and select the Attach VHD command. In the Attach Virtual Hard Disk dialog box, click Browse, and then apply the Browse dialog box to locate the VHD file.

Figure A

You can find Disk Management on the Beginning button's context menu.

Figure B shows the procedure for accessing the system paradigm VHD (or more specifically, VHDX) file on my external hard disk from inside Disk Management.

Effigy B

The first time you access a VHD in a system paradigm, you lot'll need to employ Deejay Management.

There are actually ii VHD files, and you lot want to utilise the largest i. In my case, the largest VHD file is 157GB.

When you select the VHD file, information technology volition announced in Disk Direction with a bluish icon and will be assigned the next available bulldoze letter, as shown in Effigy C.

Figure C

When y'all attach a VHD from your Organisation Epitome it volition announced in Deejay Management with a blue icon and volition be assigned a drive letter.

Shut Disk Management and open File Explorer. Then select This PC and locate the new drive. You can at present navigate the system image VHD simply like y'all would whatever disk in File Explorer, every bit shown in Effigy D.

Figure D

Once yous attach the VHD, you can hands access whatever of the files stored in your system image.

When you are finished with the VHD, correct click on the drive letter and select the Eject command, as shown in Effigy E.

Figure E

Employ the Eject control to close the VHD when you lot are finished.

If you want to access information technology once more later, you can do and so right from inside File Explorer. Just locate and double-click the VHD file and information technology will immediately exist assigned a bulldoze alphabetic character.

Too read…

  • How to revive your Windows 10 installation with Arrangement Image Recovery
  • Protect your data files with Windows 10's enhanced File History tool
  • Restoring files from Windows 10'southward File History
  • How to configure the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

What's your take?

Take you ever needed to restore individual files from a system image? Have you tried this technique? Share your experiences and advice with boyfriend TechRepublic members.