Embodiments are described for performing file restores from remote high-latency storage tiers by reading available data from a local low-latency tier in a deduplication appliance. A request to restore a previously segmented and deduplicated file can be received by a storage appliance from an application, each segment having a fingerprint. The name of the file can be looked up in an index on the storage appliance, and a first batch of fingerprints of segments of the file can be retrieved from the index. Each fingerprint can be looked up in metadata in the index to determine whether the segment corresponding to the fingerprint is available locally and therefore need not be retrieved locally. A list of local and remote prefetch segments is generated, and a prefetch request is generated for each list, if non-empty. Use of the prefetch scheme can be dynamically turned on or off.