To recover files and folders to the same location, just select what you want and then click the big blue Recover button. The wizard will ask you if you’d like to replace the current files, skip any duplications, or choose which files to keep in the current folder; this interface, shown in Figure 11-19, is identical to the normal file remediation window one sees when copying files with Explorer.
Figure 11-19: File History will ask you what to do with recovered files.
If you’d rather restore files to a new location so you can compare them side-by-side with the current version, click Options and then Restore to instead. A standard Save As dialog will appear, letting you pick the location you prefer.
Yes, File History looks a lot like the Time Machine feature in Mac OS X, minus the ridiculous animations and graphics. To be fair, however, Microsoft implemented the underlying technologies behind File History several years before Apple copied them with Time Machine.
Better Together? Storage Spaces + File History
File History is an excellent way to ensure that your most valuable documents and other files are backed up regularly and available in different historical versions. Likewise, Storage Spaces is an amazing Windows 8 feature that provides redundant storage for your most valuable data, protecting them from a potential hard drive failure. Since File History works with secondary (or network-based) disks by default, you may be thinking that there’s no benefit to using these two features together. That’s crazy talk.
For the ultimate in data protection, consider creating a storage space with two or more disks in a two-way mirror configuration. Then, you can configure File History to back up your files to the space, instead of to a normal disk. In fact, you might want to advertise this location to other PCs in your homegroup so they can back up over the network to this new, super-reliable disk mirror. This will enhance the resiliency of all of your backups, no matter which PC you use on the home network.
Like peanut butter and chocolate, File History and Storage Spaces are two great tastes that go together. And they form the basis for an amazing centralized home network backup solution you can use with multiple PCs. Just a thought.
Using the Windows 8 Recovery Tools
Like previous versions of Windows, Windows 8 includes a full suite of system recovery tools that can help fix a non-booting PC and correct other system issues. Some of these tools are available from within Windows 8, but since you often need them most when Windows won’t boot, they’re also available outside of Windows as part of the Windows Recovery Environment, or WinRE. This environment can be accessed from the Windows Setup media (DVD or USB flash drive), from a dedicated system recovery disc (or drive) you can (and should) create, or at boot time when your PC first turns on. To start, let’s examine how you can create a dedicated system recovery disc.
Creating a System Recovery Disc (or Drive)
Because these tools are so important and are usually needed when something horrible happens, we strongly recommend taking the time to make a system recovery disc (or USB-based drive) just in case. You can do this from the Recovery control panel. (To find it, open Control Panel and search for recovery
Figure 11-20: Recovery control panel
The Recovery control panel won’t even provide an option for optical disc media if a USB flash drive is inserted. So if you intend to make a disc, be sure to unplug any USB media first.
Click the link titled Create a recovery drive. After a User Account Control prompt, the Recovery Media Creator will run. This tool helps you create a bootable USB flash drive or, if you prefer, CD or DVD. (The flash drive must have a capacity of at least 256 MB, and its contents will be erased during the creation process.)
The similar tool in Windows 7 could only create optical disc-based recovery media.
Which to choose? USB is faster and more reliable, but some PCs can’t boot from a USB device, so you will want to test this before committing. We recommend starting with USB and going from there.
Booting to the Windows Recovery Environment
With Windows 8, you now have a wealth of riches when it comes to booting into the Windows Recovery Environment, or WinRE. Of course, you may not be feeling all that positive about things if you have to use these tools. Here are the various ways in which you can access WinRE.
If you created a system recovery drive, you can boot from this USB flash drive or disc, instead of from the PC’s hard drive as usual, and load the Windows Recovery Environment. (Interrupting your PC’s normal boot process varies from machine to machine, so study the firmware screen that appears when the PC restarts for clues or consult your PC’s documentation for the answer.)
Your Windows 8 Setup media can also be used to run the Windows Recovery Environment. (Interrupting your PC’s normal boot process varies from machine to machine, so study the firmware screen that appears when the PC restarts for clues or consult your PC’s documentation for the answer.) When you boot from the Setup media, you will first be presented with a screen in which you select the language, time and currency format, and keyboard or input method. Click Next to skip this screen. When you do, you will be shown the Install now screen. Instead of clicking Install now, however, click the link titled Repair your computer. On the Choose an option screen that appears next, click Troubleshoot.
In previous Windows versions, you could interrupt the Windows boot process by holding down the F8 key immediately after the BIOS screen and before the Windows loading animation. If you did it just right, you’d enter the Windows Recovery Environment.
Windows 8 makes this much easier. Instead of trying to interrupt the boot manually—somewhat impossible on touch-screen tablets in particular, but difficult on all Windows 8 PCs because the OS boots so fast—simply navigate into the Metro-style PC Settings interface and visit the bottom of the General area. There, under Advanced
