Data loss can occur unexpectedly, and the consequences can be quite aggravating, especially if users failed to deploy a reliable backup strategy in their day-to-day PC interactions. However, if things do turn out eventful and data loss or corruption does occur, relying on specialized apps, such as Windows Data Recovery can provide a real helping hand in identifying, selecting, and finally restoring the lost data, in order to regain access to the required files.

At the core of the app’s functionality, lies a two-step wizard, which we believe is simple enough even for the uninitiated and other novices out there. You first scan your preferred drives, and then the app will render the identified data, which is available for recovery. It’s that simple.

However, like with all simple approaches, there’s a caveat, and in this case, it’s in the form of a lack of folder or directory selection tools, for a more custom-tuned scanning process. Although not such a major gripe, it is worth mentioning.

By default, the app will start a standard scanning process, if you’ve decided on the preferred drive and selected it. Nevertheless, with this “standard” scanning process, we experienced quite mixed results, but most of the time, the app failed to identify too many files.

When using the deep scanning module, more files and directories were identified, and this could be a more “realistic” scan in our opinion. However, this raises the question of reliability, which could render the application quasi-useless.

With a really minimalistic, truncated design and workflow, Windows Data Recovery can help users regain access to their lost data. However, having little efficacy for the standard scanning module, it could be an unreliable choice for more demanding tasks.