New, free Windows 10 tool from Microsoft could prove to be invaluable

What you need to know

• Microsoft released Windows File Recovery in the Microsoft Store.
• The free tool helps you recover files that have been lost or wiped.
• It can work with internal files or external devices such as USB drives and SD cards.

If you've ever accidentally deleted files that were important, you know the dread associated with losing data. Now, a new tool from Microsoft is here to reduce that stress, Windows File Recovery. The new tool is a command line app that can recover files and documents from your PC as well as USB drives, hard drives, and SD cards. Windows File Recovery is free through the Microsoft Store.

You should use Windows File Recovery as soon as you realize you've wiped files that you want to keep. The more you use a storage device and save new content, the less likely it is that you'll be able to recover your files.

Windows File Recovery has two modes, default and signature. The default mode is for NTFS file systems. This mode can be used to recover a drive after you've formatted it or when a disk is corrupted. The signature mode expands further than NTFS file recovery and adjusts to specific storage devices. For example, it can recover wiped data from an SD card.

If you haven't backed up files that you've accidentally deleted, or have external media that's been corrupted or wiped, Windows File Recovery might be able to get your data back.