Η Microsoft released today to insiders, a new simplified version of the Windows 10 File Recovery tool, making it easier to use.
In June, Microsoft released quietly in the Microsft Store, a new file recovery tool called Windows File Recovery (WinFR) that lets you recover deleted files from hard drives, USB drives, and SD cards.
When the tool was first released, it contained a confusing mix of recovery methods and was not very clear as to which one to use.
With today's Windows 10 Insider build 21286, Microsoft released a new version of the Windows File Recovery tool (winfr.exe) that includes new functions, which are easier to use. This new version is only available to Insiders and users in regular versions will not be able to download it.
With this release, Microsoft introduces two new functions. The “regular” and “extensive” that can be used to recover files in Windows 10, as shown by the help instructions below.
The “regular” mode usesfor recovering recently deleted files and when the hard drive is not damaged. The “extensive” mode, on the other hand, is used to recover a file that was deleted some time ago, when a disk has been damaged, and when the disk has already been formatted.
To make it easier for you to determine which feature to choose, Microsoft released the following table:
File system | Cases | Suggested mode |
NTFS | Recently deleted | Regular |
NTFS | It was deleted a while ago | Extensive |
NTFS | After formatting a disc | Extensive |
NTFS | A damaged disk | Extensive |
FAT and exFAT | Anyone | Extensive |
To test the new version of WinFR, you will need to install Windows 10 Insider build 21286 from the Dev channel.