How to Restore Vista Backup to XP

Windows Vista contains a backup feature that backs up files in a format that Windows XP cannot understand and automatically restore for you. Windows Vista backups, however, are in Zip file format, so you can restore them to XP by extracting the files by hand. Files larger than 200 MB are split into multiple files across multiple Zips, so they require some special care.

Instructions

Restore Files Smaller Than 200 MB

1. Open Windows Explorer in Windows XP by clicking "Start," "All Programs," then "Windows Explorer."

2. Browse to the media containing your Vista backups. Double-click a "Backup Set" folder and then double-click a "Backup Files" folder in the "Backup Set" folder. The Vista "Backup Files" folder contains files named "Backup Files 1.zip," "Backup Files 2.zip" and so on.

3. Open a "Backup Files" Zip folder in Windows Explorer by double-clicking it.

4. Restore any files smaller than 200 MB to Windows XP by dragging and dropping them from the "Backup Files" Zip folders onto the Windows XP desktop.

Restore Files Larger Than 200 MB

1. Open Windows Explorer in Windows XP by clicking "Start," "All Programs," then "Windows Explorer."

2. Browse to the media containing your Vista backups. Double-click a "Backup Set" folder and then double-click a "Backup Files" folder in the "Backup Set" folder. The Vista "Backup Files" folder contains files named "Backup Files 1.zip," "Backup Files 2.zip" and so on.

3. Double-click "Backup Files" Zip folders in Windows Explorer until you find a backup file larger than 200 MB.

4. Drag and drop the first portion of the file onto the Windows XP desktop and then rename it and append "_1" to its file name. For example, if you have a file named "Video.mp4," name it "Video_1.mp4."

5. Drag and drop the second portion of the file onto the Windows XP desktop. If there is a second file with the same name in the Zip folder in which you found the first portion, drag and drop it onto the desktop and name it with "_2" appended to its file name--for example, "Video_2.mp4." If there is not a second file with the same name, open the next Zip folder and drag and drop the file in it. For example, if you found the first portion of the file in the "Backup Files 3.zip" folder, open "Backup Files 4.zip" next.

6. Continue dragging and dropping each consecutive file and appending numbers to the file names until there are no more left. The number of files depends on the size of the original file; some files will have two portions, and some files can have eight or more.

7. Open a command prompt by clicking "Start," "All Programs," "Accessories," then "Command Prompt."

8. Navigate to the "Desktop" folder in the command prompt by typing "cd Desktop" into the command prompt window and then pressing "Enter."

9. Combine the split files into the original file by typing "copy /b Video*.mp4 Video.mp4," replacing "Video.mp4" with the name of your file and "Video*.mp4" with the name of your file followed by an asterisk. Then press "Enter."

10. Delete the original numbered split files, if desired.

References

• The Storage Team at Microsoft: How Windows Vista Backup Uses Zip Files to Store Backups (and How to Extract Files From Zips)