ShadowExplorer

ShadowExplorer is a very simple and lightweight tool that allows you to access the data stored by the Volume Shadow Copy service of your Windows system.

This basically allows you to view the data stored by a “System Restore Point”, meaning the exact files, folders and directory structure of a drive at the time when that “System Restore Point” was created. But there’s more to come: despite being very small and simple, ShadowExplorer doesn’t only allow you to view this kind of data, but also retrieve and export files and folders from these “point-in-time copies”.

The most obvious characteristic of this program is its simplicity. The main interface only displays the data contained by the detected restore points, letting you browse among the available ones and select the view mode (small icons, large icons, list or details). In order to retrieve a file or folder from these copies, just right-click them and select “Export” from the context menu. There are no intricate settings or options, ShadowExplorer being very lightweight and neat.

There’s not much to say about such a simple and small application. It represents a viable choice for whenever you need to browse the restore points of your Windows system or even to retrieve files from them. ShadowExplorer is also free, so there’s no reason to avoid trying it.