If you have a Windows 7, 8, or 10 PC lying around, though, using it would be a much better option. It would take forever to restore a large amount of files in this way, but if you’re desperate, this method will work. It won’t preserve your directory structure, and you’ll have trouble finding the files you’re looking for. Warning: We really don’t recommend restoring a Windows 7 backup in this way. RELATED: How to Install Windows on a Mac With Boot Camp Restore Files from Windows Backup on Windows 7 There shouldn’t be many other folders getting in your way, so you can just poke around inside the FileHistory folder until you find the files you want to restore to your Mac. This may sound a bit complicated, but it’s really not. For example, if you want to recover files that were stored in your Documents folder, browse to FileHistory/USERNAME/COMPUTERNAME/Data/C/Users/USERNAME/Documents in Finder. You can actually just browse this folder and extract your files. You’ll find them under FileHistory/USERNAME/COMPUTERNAME/Data/.
Just connect the external drive to your Mac, open a Finder window, and view its contents. If you have a File History backup, you’ll see a “FileHistory” folder on the external drive containing the backup when you connect it to your Mac. RELATED: 8 Backup Tools Explained for Windows 7 and 8 Restore Files from File History on Windows 10 and 8
