Formatted Partition Recovery: Recover Data from Formatted Partitions

Can data be recovered after formatting?

“Is it possible to recover data from formatted partition? I just formatted one of the hard drive partitions last night to extend another partition, but after I formatted it, I realized I have put a few vital files in the formatted partition. Is there any way to recover them?”

Here's a scenario that we all hope we'll never have to deal with. You discover that a critical partition has been formatted, and all the data is lost. Perhaps the partition was formatted by accident, or perhaps it was done on purpose before you learned you required the contents stored on the partition.  

It’s advised to perform formatted partition recovery as soon as you formatted the partition. Otherwise, data overwriting may occur, dramatically reducing the success of recovery. You’d better stop using your hard disk or partition until you've recovered data from formatted partitions.

Common scenarios cause formatted partitions

To avoid having to deal with a formatted partition in the future, you'd better figure out what causes it. Here are five common scenarios in which partitions would be formatted.

Accidental format. You may accidentally format your partition and realize there is important data in the partition after formatting when managing the partitions of the hard disk.

RAW partition error. If your partition becomes raw, you will get the message noticed “You need to format the disk in drive E: before you can use it. Do you want to format it?”

Corrupted partition table. If the partition table gets corrupted due to unknown reasons, it will show the partition is not accessible. You may need to format the partition to recover the partition table and use it again.

Virus attack. Some viruses can format partitions that are specifically built for this purpose. When you try to access that partition, you can get an access denied message.

File system conversion. Some users believe that reformatting, or converting from NTFS to FAT16/FAT32 or vice versa, will not wipe the data from the partition. However, when a partition is reformatted, all of the data in that partition is lost.

How to recover data from formatted partitions?

To increase the chance of data recovery from the formatted partition, here are some expert tips to help you:

✪ Stop using the affected hard disk. If the hard drive partition has been formatted, you should stop using it. Further use of the drive causes the lost data to be overwritten.

✪ Use authentic and reliable software to recover data. Viruses might infect your hard drive if you download some malware or untested software from the Internet.

✪ Save recoverable data to another external disk. It would prevent the data from being overwritten and lost permanently.

Recover data from formatted partition via data recovery software

To recover data from the formatted partition, professional data recovery software could be the best choice. There are many third-party data recovery tools in the market.  Microsoft has released a free file recovery utility (Windows File Recovery) for Windows to recover deleted or lost files from internal & external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. Currently, it only supports Windows 10 and above.  

Because Windows File Recovery is a command-line app,  it could be complex and difficult to use for ordinary users. MyRecover is a free tool that recovers deleted or lost files including images, videos, documents, audio, etc. from hard drives, external hard disks, USB drives, SD cards, cameras in Windows 11/10/8/7. You could download it and try to scan the formatted partition for data recovery. 

Step 1: Launch MyRecover on your computer. Hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.

Step 2: The software will scan the formatted partition quickly. You don't need to wait for the scanning to end if you find the wanted files in the scanning list. 

Step 3. You can search the files and folders or filter the scanning result to quickly locate the files you need. And then click "Recover XX files" to save the formatted data to another place. 

Tips: After recovering data from a formatted or unformatted SD memory card, USB flash drive, or hard disk, the storage device must be formatted again to be usable.

Step 1: Connect the formatted or unformatted storage devices with your computer.

Step 2: Open Windows Files Explorer, right-click your device, and select "Format".

Step 3: To make the system files readable again, change the file system to NTFS or FAT32.

Alternatively, you could go to Disk Management to format and reset formatted storage devices. After that, you can store data on the memory card, USB, or hard disk again.

Bonus tip: how to avoid partition loss in the future

Following some professional advice that we gathered that helps you avoid formatting partition issues in the future and keep your data safe.

• Back up vital data regularly. Create a backup of your key files on multiple storage devices and make it a habit to recover data quickly if the partition is formatted. Or you could choose a professional backup software-AOMEI Backupper with the simplest operation.
• Check the partition before formatting. Before selecting the format option, you need to double-check whether there are important files. It will save your data if you take extra care when partitioning.
• Anti-Virus. Virus attacks and malware threads can cause your partition to get corrupted, resulting in partition formatting. You may avoid this problem and protect your computer by using a good antivirus program.
• Free partition manager. Partitions would get corrupted or inaccessible due to improper operation when managing the hard disk. Here you could download a kind of free disk manager tool-AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, supporting Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. You could use it to resize, move, merge, delete, format, clone, and create partitions in an easy way. 

Conclusion

Regardless of the operating system you're running, you can recover data from formatted partitions. You can retrieve data by using our instructions. You'll have your data back in no time if you have the necessary data recovery tools.

While reinstalling Windows, managing disk space, correcting disk errors, and other disk-related difficulties, you may accidentally format a hard drive partition. As a result, making regular backups of your data is worthwhile, and easy to recover data in case of need.