Windows 10: Merge several file history folders

My computer was saving my file history backup on a external drive and I have 3- Six month folders that won’t have many changes and they are each 1.4+Tb. Is there a way to merge/combine them into 1 folder with only 1 copy of each file? I am no longer having windows save file history and would like to free up space on my drive. Thanks to anyone & everyone that replies

:)

 

How to remove folders from File History

• I had the same problem, and I solved in this way:
  Control Panel -> System and Security-> File History -> Turn off
  Settings -> Update & Security -> Backup -> More options -> Stop using this drive
  Delete the File History folder in your external drive.
  Start using File History again.
  After performing these steps, I can easily add folders to "Excluded Folders" and they remain excluded. I checked in the actual files and folders saved on the external disk, and it works.
  I did not modify the default settings about how often and how long backup is saved, File History is working ok now. So I guess it is important to click "Stop using this drive" in order to reset File History.
  Hope this will be helpful

 

How can one merge Windows File History Backups

Background

I've had Windows file history configured to backup to a network folder for the past couple of years.

I now need more space than the company NAS can supply so I

1. told windows to stop using the network drive,
   
2. moved the File History directory from my NAS to an external HD,
   
3. and configured windows to use the external drive for file history.
   

When I use windows explorer to view the history of a folder, the earliest versions that show up are from when I reconfigured file history to use the new drive; versions that I copied from the network drive do not show up.

I've investigated and found that there are now two folders for my computer in the File History directory:

• {My Ext HD}:\\FileHistory\{My username}\{My computer's name}\
  
• {My Ext HD}:\\FileHistory\{My username}\{My computer's name} (2)\
  

Judging by the modification dates on these two folders, the current backups are all being stored in {My computer's name} (2)

How can I access my older backup revisions?

• Can I simply merge these two folders, or will that mess up Windows?
  
• If I can't fully merge them, is there at least a way I could access revisions from the old folder?
  

Notes

• The old backups span Windows 8.1 and an upgrade to Windows 10
  
• They are very large backups so I'd like to avoid the trial and error approach of creating a copy of the File History folder (which would take over a day) and trying to merge the folders to see what windows does.
  

 

How to remove folders from File History

That did it - Thank you Mila!