Problem restoring files from Toshiba 320 external hard drive.?

Last year I bought a 320GB Toshiba external hard drive and used it to back up all the files on my HP Compaq Presario laptop. The laptop promptly died and I later bought a new one--same model except it runs Windows 7 instead of Vista. I went to try and restore my files off of the external hard drive, but the backup program--Backup Now EZ--promptly freezes the moment I hit "restore." I have tried solving this problem in several ways, including uninstalling and reinstalling the program, and downloading a patch from Toshiba which claimed to insure compatability with Windows 7--but I was informed that my program was already up to date. All of my files are compressed onto the external hard drive and I know of no way to get them out except through the Backup Now EZ program--which refuses to work. Is there any way to force this program to work or is there any other way to extract my files?