Forum Discussion
How can I recover permanently deleted files on Windows 10?
Holaway Surprisingly, no one recommend the Windows File Recovery app? It is a command-line tool developed by Microsoft that is available for free in the Microsoft Store. It is designed to help users recover lost or permanently deleted files on Windows 10. This tool can recover a wide range of file types, including photos, documents, videos, and more, from various storage devices such as hard drives, SSDs, USB drives, and SD cards.
The basic syntax of the command for recovering deleted files on Windows:
winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]
Windows File Recovery is a command-line tool, so it does not have a graphical user interface (GUI). Familiarity with command-line operations is beneficial.
I've tried recovering my files using this app but it only recovered files that were deleted very recently. Is there a way to recover deleted files from 2 months ago?
Eliseour You forgot to mention the basic modes of Windows File Recovery app. And this is very important for retrieving permanently deleted files on Windows PC. These modes are used for different recovery scenarios:
- Default Mode: For recently deleted files (NTFS file systems).
- Segment Mode: For files deleted a while ago, where metadata is partially available.
- Signature Mode: For recovering files from non-NTFS file systems, like FAT, exFAT, and ReFS.
Note: Windows File Recovery works best with NTFS file systems. For other file systems (like FAT or exFAT), use Signature Mode.
How to activate the segment mode? I'm trying to recover files from 2 months ago
