Restore from old My Book files to a different machine

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

Can i restore files that were created years ago on a different machine to a machine that I am using at work if they were not backed up here in the first place? I used WD Smartware to do the old backups.
Also, what software would you advise using now. My goal is to take what I need from the backups, wipe out the drive and reparation the 5 partitions I have down to one partition then load back the data.

Thanks in advance.

2

Hello,

What version of Smartware were you using on the computer? You should be able to access the files if you manually go to the My Book and then you can copy the files and paste them on the other computer, you can also use Smartware to retrieve the backup, but preferably the same version used on the previous computer to make sure the files will be retrieved correctly.

3

I am having trouble finding my original Smartware software but it was from around 2010. I have been trying to use software that was written on one of the drives. I have mixed results with it so far.
I’ll let you know how that goes. Sometimes when I plug the drive into this Windows 7 pc, it slows everything down to where it barely runs. It it will be the only thing running. Something has happened to it along the way which is why I want to wipe it out and start over.
Thanks for the response.

4

I tried to load the Smartware software from the drive and it hangs at 25 seconds left. I have read other users having the same issue with Windows 7. I have read posts saying to use a newer version of Smartware or Acronis will fix it.

I think when I install either one it will make first do a backup. After that do you think it will let me access my older backups that it didn’t back up.

Thanks