My restored files wont work now!

i backed up my files to my "Wolverine" external hard drive (which is FAT32) using vista-"backup and restore" and it completed with no problem. Then I re-installed vista.

Then someone told me the backup has to be on a NTFS file system ??

The backup files are in many ZIP files on my external backup drive. They did restore to normal, but now the song files will not play:

"Windows Media Player cannot access the file. The file might be in use, you might not have access to the computer where the file is stored, or your proxy settings might not be correct."

and my favorites do not open:

"The target"" of this shortcut is not valid. Go to the internet shortcut property sheet and make sure the target is correct."


The only files that work normal are the pictures i open.

Is there anyway to fix this and make the restored files work? Did i lose all of my files, are they corrupt?

Also, I did get an error in restore saying the user account is different and something about permissions. I didnt name the account/comp the same name, didnt know I had to, but i did check the properties of the restored files and it shows my current new acccount does have all permissions to the files.

Please help

HMM, a classic. Vista backup/restore is a dog. It never seems to work correctly. I suggest you open the backup files on your Wolverine (what is that anyhow) and pick the files one by one and copy them back into a folder on your new system. Use this function to copy them ( http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/89196-context-menu-add-copy-folder-move-folder.htmlhttp://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/add-copy-to-move-to-on-windows-vista-right-click-menu/ ). The files will have funny filenames, but just copy them and see what they are after you get them back in.

Next time just copy them with the above Copy to... - Fat32 or NTFS on the external disk makes no difference. It is only relevant when individual records are larger than 4GB.

One by one seems impossible since vista backed them up into about
500 individual zipped folders, so i just clicked to copy over the entire
backup folder to my new system but inside that are the 500 folders.

Is there an easy way to fix this? So they are back to original form/folders
once copyed?

Thank you.