How do I copy a .bkf file if the regular restore utility does not

I have several backups on an external hard drive. I am about to reformat my
pc and decided to test the backups I did regularly with the windows backup
utility. They do not work. I am getting error messages saying file contains
unrecognized data and cannot be used. When I click ok at that error, it comes
up with a dialog box to check file location. It says the backup file cannot
be found or is not the file requested. I saw a few posts that suggesting
just copying the entire .bkf file. How does one do that? The only way to
see that file is in the backup program. If I right click on the file, it
just says catalog or delete catalog. I can see all the files within each
backup but I cannot restore them. It's very frustrating as it would seem
that windows would have been able to perfect their backup system by now. I
have installed carbonite on all my pc's now. But I would really like to get
this reformatting going and the carbonite is going to take a while to
complete. Thanks in advance.

"Janice" <Janice@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:93A2F252-74D6-4BF1-9926-91CFAD9AB8A4@microsoft.com...
> I have several backups on an external hard drive. I am about to reformat
my
> pc and decided to test the backups I did regularly with the windows backup
> utility. They do not work. I am getting error messages saying file
contains
> unrecognized data and cannot be used. When I click ok at that error, it
comes
> up with a dialog box to check file location. It says the backup file
cannot
> be found or is not the file requested. I saw a few posts that suggesting
> just copying the entire .bkf file. How does one do that? The only way to
> see that file is in the backup program. If I right click on the file, it
> just says catalog or delete catalog. I can see all the files within each
> backup but I cannot restore them. It's very frustrating as it would seem
> that windows would have been able to perfect their backup system by now.
I
> have installed carbonite on all my pc's now. But I would really like to
get
> this reformatting going and the carbonite is going to take a while to
> complete. Thanks in advance.


Not likely MS is ever going to come up with a good backup ...
use some 3rd party backup software