Can I recover data from a formatted external hard drive?
General answer - yes, you can.
However, there are some nuances. There are two types of formatting: Quick and Complete.
During the quick format, a file system doesn't actually delete user's files but discards pointers to the file contents.
If you formatted the external drive by means of Windows and did not uncheck the Quick format box,
you can recover data. Complete format deletes data irreversibly and
neither special software nor a data recovery lab can help you get the files.
To recover data after formatting you need:
- prepare an additional storage device you will copy the recovered data to;
- PC running Windows;
- special data recovery software like ReclaiMe File Recovery.
More information about the unformat procedure you can find at this page - How to unformat a storage device.
Still have questions?