One of the things that happen very often to writable computer storage devices (hard disk drive, solid-state drive, floppy disk, USB flash drive, sd card, etc) is formatting. Your heart may sink hearing that your disk was formatted by error or consciously.
From the user point of view, there maybe reasons to lament because the formatting process erases all the information on the disk.
But closely looking at it, there is no need to panic because technically, formatting simply writes a new directory structure that allows all the files to be overwritten, creating a blank disk.
Your documents are not lost
Formatting your sd card or hard drive doesn’t mean your documents are completely lost. You’ve simply restructured the surface of your drive, making the sectors ready to accept new data. So you can effectively recover formatted sd card
Each time a file is stored, it logically occupied space on the device. That space is locked so nothing else can be stored on it. Formatting will “unlock” the space and make it ready to accept new files. But the file that was initially saved is still available and can be recovered using a file recovery utility like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
Can formatted files be recovered at any time?
I’m afraid the answer is NO. Once you format your disk, you make it ‘thirsty’, ready to accept fresh content while overwriting and completely erasing existing content.
If no record has been saved on the formatted sectors, the lost files possibly could still be recovered. But once the sectors have had some new files stored on them, this will completely overwrite any formatted contents, making their recovery impossible.
In order to fully recover your data from any formatted computer storage device, it’s more prudent to make sure nothing is saved on it after formatting. Run the recovery utility first.
How to easily recover your lost drives
Fortunately, we have a tool that can help you easily recover formatted hard drive. You can download it for PC or Mac
If you want to recover data from formatted hard drive partition, you will have to connect it to the PC with the Operating System. Generally, folks use external hard driver readers, connected to a USB port. Otherwise, you will have to install your drive in a desktop PC.
Recovering from a formatted sd card is easier. All you need is an sd card reader connected to your laptop or PC on which the utility is installed.
Next, run the data recovery tool:
Then select the location to recover data from and click the “Scan” button.
As you can see this is as easy and user-friendly as possible.
The next window opens up with a list of items ready to be recovered on the right panel. Simply select what you want to recover and click “Recover” button.
Pick the destination location. That’s the folder or device where you want to store the recovered files.
Two tips not to completely loose your data
Once you start using storing data (pictures, music files, video files, office documents, etc), you have to develop a working method to stay safe. These are two tips to help you always have access to your data should anything happen.
1 – Put in place a backup method
The best data security measure is backup. Always keep copies of your files in a save location you can turn to anytime.
Keeping backup copies locally or on a remote server will depend generally on the size of the data. However, that should be determined by your requirement. My advice is that you set in place a backup strategy
2 – Recover quick
I explained above that formatting a drive should not instantly call for hopelessness because the data isn’t lost. But what completely erases the data is when fresh content is saved on the space to overwrite existing content.
Once you’ve found out your unit was formatted and you’ll need a recovery service, you have to make sure you run the utility and recover the files before saving new content to the device.
I hope this will help you recover your sd drive or hard disk that was formatted by error’ Let me know what you think in the comment box.