Microsoft has introduced a new utility that introduces a command in Windows 10 called Windows File Recovery, thanks to which it will be possible to recover files deleted by mistake from the PC disks that cannot be recovered from the Recycle Bin, but also from external memories such as SD cards or USB sticks.
An important novelty, especially for its integration into the operating system. Apparently, Microsoft seems to have launched Windows File Recovery at a low price, but in reality the command is currently available only for builds of Window 10 19041 or higher, therefore 20H1 or 20H2, available only to insiders participating in the OS development program .
Windows File Recovery (wfr), is obtained by downloading and installing aapp from the Microsoft Store call with the same name. At that point, wfr will only be available as a command to type after launching the Windows 10 Command Prompt.
Three ways to recover files, including from cards and USB sticks
Wfr can operate in three different ways. “Default” is the default mode that uses the Master File Table (MFT) to locate lost or deleted files. It works well when MFT segments and file segments called File Record Segments (FRS) are present.
Then there is the mode “Segment”, which does not use the MFT but requires the presence of segments. Segments are information about the files that NTFS stores in the MFT such as name, date, size, type, cluster index and allocation unit.
Finally there is the mode “Signature”: only works on some extensions such as JPG, ZIP, MP3, PDF, but also .docx, .xslx and others. And it is the only suitable way to recover files from memories not formatted in NTFS and in general for all external memories. It does not work for recovering small files.
Reaching the Microsoft support page you can read the syntax for using the Windows File Recovery command.
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