3 Steps to Easily Recover Data from Formatted SD Card

Can I recover files from a formatted SD card?

Actually, whether it is possible to recover files from a formatted SD card depends on how you formatted your SD card. Most operating systems and devices offer two format options, Quick format or Full format. The one you choose will impact your ability to recover files if you have inadvertently formatted the card before saving its contents to a safe location.

A Quick format is simple and quick. It removes files from the SD card without scanning it for bad sectors, allowing the data to be recovered. Full format, on the other hand, completely erases files from the SD card being formatted as well as any bad sectors on it, rendering the data unrecoverable even with professional data recovery software.

Recover data from formatted SD card in 3 steps [Recommended]

Supposing that you have accidentally quickly formatted your SD card, you’re recommended to use MyRecover to recover data from the formatted SD card. With an intuitive interface and easy operating process, you can quickly recover data from a formatted SD card in only 3 steps with a high success rate.

• Easy-to-operate. It allows you to recover lost/deleted data from Windows within 3 easy steps.
• All-inclusive. It applies to various data loss scenarios in Windows, including recovering data from formatted drives, corrupted partitions, after system crashes, virus attacks, etc.
• High recovery rate and speed. It recovers your data with a high recovery rate and high speed, even if it was permanently deleted or quickly formatted.
• Widely-compatible. It supports NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS in Windows 11/10/8/7 & Windows Server.
• Comprehensive. Whatever you have lost, texts, pictures, videos, audios, emails, compressed files, etc., you could retrieve deleted/lost data in original format.

Download, install and launch MyRecover on your computer.  

Step 1. First, connect your formatted SD card to your computer properly. Hover the mouse over the drive and click Scan to scan.

Step 2. You will see your deleted files from the SD card after Quick Scan/Deep Scan. You don’t need to wait for the process to complete if you find the excel files you want to recover.

Step 3. Check the scanning result and choose a new location to save your recovered files. Click Recover xx files to save the restored files.

Supplementary method: Recover data from formatted SD card with CMD

A supplementary method for you is to recover data from a formatted SD card using CMD via Windows File Recovery. Because this method involves command lines, it is a little more technically demanding, especially for people who are unfamiliar with command lines. Besides, its recovery rate still remains to be proven. Also, please note that this tool only works with Windows 10 versions 2004 and up.

Preparation work before using Windows File Recovery:

To use this tool, check out your File System first. Go to This PC > right-click on the external drive that contains the deleted files > click Properties.

 In addition, you need to use recovery mode and switches to get back your files. To decide which mode to use, refer to this table.

Switches are used to filter the scanning range, thus can save the scanning time.

Step 1. Download and install Window File Recovery on your computer from Microsoft Store and then open it.

Step 2. Open Powershell or Command Prompt (run as administrator). In the Command Prompt, enter commands in the following command format:

winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]

 For example, if you need to recover deleted pdf files from F: drive (the SD card) to D: drive, then the command will be like:

winfr F: D: /regular /n *.pdf

Conclusion

After reading this post, you're able to answer the question “Can you recover data from a formatted SD card?”. According to this post, you are able to recover data from a formatted SD card via MyRecover and Windows File Recovery if it was quickly formatted instead of fully formatted. Two tools are introduced to help you recover data. Among these, ADR is highly recommended for its fast speed and high success rate.

At the end of this post, we would like to advise you to use AOMEI Backupper to regularly back up your important data on your internal/external hard drives, SD/memory cards, or partitions to avoid data loss in the future.     

FAQs

Q1. How can I recover my formatted SD card without a computer?

We're sorry to inform you that recovering a formatted SD card without a computer is impossible. With the exception of specialized data recovery equipment used by professional data recovery labs.

Q2. How can I recover photos from a formatted SD card for free?

In this post, we recommend the easiest way to recover photos from a formatted SD card for free. You can recover your data using data recovery software such as MyRecover. It's free and widely used around the world. Furthermore, you are permitted to recover an unlimited amount of data.

Q3. Does format an SD card delete everything?

When you format an SD card, everything on it is deleted. However, the data is only deleted, not permanently erased. Formatting an SD card deletes the directory of entries used to define the path of data stored and makes the data on it practically unusable, but it does not permanently delete it. The data, however, is not permanently lost and can be recovered with the help of data recovery software.