RPV: Win7′s least-known data-protection system

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You deleted a file yesterday; now you really need it back. Your Windows recycle bin is empty — what now?

Your next-best option is the Restore Previous Versions tool — a truly great, automatic data-protection feature buried in Win7.

I say “buried” advisedly; most people have never even heard of it. You’ve heard of it, of course — you read Windows Secrets! But I’ll still bet you rarely, if ever, use it. And if you have used it, I’ll bet your initial explorations were probably like mine — a click here, a poke there, some head-scratching, and then mostly ignoring it.

But it’s a mistake to ignore or underuse this feature, because it really is a hidden gem.

What is Restore Previous Versions, exactly?

Introduced in Vista and now present in all editions of Windows 7, previous versions are local backups of every data file and folder that changes on your system. The backups are created automatically and are instantly accessible. Previous versions do for your standard documents (text files, spreadsheets, photos, whatever) what Windows System Restore does for system files.

The function that creates previous versions is enabled by default and is probably working right now on your PC, whether you’ve ever used the previous-versions feature or not.

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RPV: Win7′s least-known data-protection system

Interesting find Brian; however, (according to website's author) the previous restore option is also temporary. Not permanent. Funny I think. One other thing is that b/c these back-ups are on the same drive as the OS, it is not very good (the fact that they are found on the same drive, that is). Any backups of course should be done on a separate drive such as a logical drive for example where they could be used again. This is what I do. I put my back ups on a logical drive in case the OS or any folders is/are 'kaput' or inadvertently changed or lost somehow. And if the OS is in some manner missing a file, I'll be able to re-install it with a 3rd party software.