FOR~GO
(For Geeks Only)
By Joe Callison
17 September 2023
Windows File Recovery
Have you ever tried to access data on an SD card or USB drive and the files are unreadable? Searching the internet for file recovery software will turn up dozens of possibilities, many claiming to be free. After trying out several “free” ones it turns out most only find the files for free and you have to pay to recover them, or they only recover a few for free just to demonstrate they can actually recover files so you will buy them. There is an actual free alternative from the Microsoft Store called Windows File Recovery by Microsoft. It is a command line program, so it is not as user-friendly as a program you pay for might be, but it gets the job done and will work on any type of storage device that is recognized on a Windows system. It is limited to the recovery of specific file types, but the list covers most of the user files of interest. An excellent tutorial on using Windows File Recovery can be found at How to Use Microsoft’s “Windows File Recovery” on Windows 10 and Windows 11
I have used Windows File Recovery to successfully recover videos from a friend’s USB flash drive that was otherwise unreadable.
