Recover Formatted Partition in Windows 10, 8, 7, and 11 for Free

Help! Accidentally formatted partition in Windows 10

I accidentally formatted a partition on my external hard drive and all files, including my valuable family photos, are disappearing. This formatted partition hasn’t been overwritten yet and how can I undo the format and recover all the files?

Is it available to recover formatted partition data?

When you format a partition in Windows 11/10/8/7, Windows only removes the file entries on the root directory & file allocation table; the files and folders are not permanently wiped but still exist on the partition and you just can’t access these data.

It’s very possible to recover the lost data from the formatted partition, as long as you follow these prompts.

• Don’t make any write operation on the formatted partition.
• Don’t reformat the formatted partition.
• Don’t rebuild the partition table of the formatted drive.
• Don’t run CHKDSK.exe on the formatted drive.

Top 3 fixes to recover formatted partition in Windows 10/7 and 11 for free

Here introduce 3 fixes about how to recover formatted partition/drive in Windows 11/10/8/7. If you want to recover data from formatted partition intuitively and easily, the first one is suitable for you. If you want to get data back after formatting using a command-line tool, you can use the latter two.

Fix 1. An advanced GUI tool: Recover formatted partition within a few clicks

MyRecover is recovery software, specially designed for Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 and Windows Server. With a concise and intuitive graphic user interface, it is easy to operate even for a green hand. It can scan the partition and restore data from the formatted partition and recover deleted files with high speed. Download the free partition data recovery software and see how it works.

Step 1. Install and launch the tool. On the main interface. Hover the mouse over the drive and click Scan to scan.

Step 2. Then the tool will scan the formatted partition automatically.  You can type keywords of file names in the search bar or use a filter to target the deleted or lost files. 

Step 3. Select the data that you want to get back and click "Recover xx files". Then, choose a destination path to save the recovered files and folders.

Fix 2. TestDisk: Recover data from formatted partition with 8 steps

TestDisk, a powerful open source recovery software, can be used to recover lost data from formatted partition and retrieve deleted data. It can be used in Windows, Mac, and Linux but it’s with a command-line interface, which can be complicated for many users.

Step 1.  Download and run TestDisk on your Windows computer, and hit “Enter” key.

Step 2. Choose “Create” option and press the “Enter” key. All connected hard drives will be scanned by TestDisk.

Step 3. Then all hard drives will be listed and you can use the arrow keys to choose the disk that holds the formatted partition that you want to recover and press "Enter".

Step 4. Choose the partition table type [Intel] and press Enter.

Step 5. Select "Analyze" and hit "Enter" to analyze the hard drive that holds the formatted partition.

Step 6. Once the analysis is complete, you can use “Quick Search” option to scan the drive. 

Step 7. Now you can see the lost files on the drive. Then go to the files/folders that you need to retrieve and press “C” button to copy them.

Step 8. Choose the destination folder and press "Y" to start the copying process.

When TestDisk has copied all the selected files, you can see “Copy Done” message.

Fix 3. Winfr: Recover formatted partition in Windows 10 19041 build and later versions

If your computer is running Windows 10 19041 build or a later version, you can use Windows File Recovery, a command-line tool released by Microsoft, to restore formatted partition data.

Step 1. Download Windows File Recovery from Microsoft Store and install it on your laptop or desktop.

Step 2. Type “windows file recovery” in the search box, and run it as administrator.

Step 3. To recover the “photos” folder from the formatted partition D:  to partition E:, input the command:

winfr D: E: /extensive /n \photos\

Tips:

• "photos" should be replaced with the name of the folder that you want to restore from D drive.
• D: is the source drive from which you want to retrieve data; E: is the drive to which you restore data.

Bonus tip: Recover deleted/ lost partition on Windows PCs

Now, you have known how to recover data from partition after formatting. What to do if you lost or deleted the whole partition? Here introduces how to recover lost/deleted partition and its data in detail. Keep reading!

Note: It's available to download the demo version of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to have a try!

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. In the main interface, you can see the unallocated space occurs after partition loss or deletion.

Step 2. Click "Partition Recovery Wizard". Then, choose the disk that contains the lost/deleted partition, click “Next” to continue.

Step 3. Choose the mode to search the partition and click "Next". 

• Fast search: Scan the first sector of each partition on the selected disk to find out the deleted or lost partition quickly (recommended)
• Full search: More in-depth search of every sector of each partition on the selected disk, requiring more time. Choose it if the first one fails.

Step 4. Now, the deleted or lost partitions will be listed choose the partition that you want to recover and click “Proceed”.

Step 5. When you see the message – Congratulations! The partitions have been recovered…Click “Finish” and you can see that the partition is restored.

Wrap things up

Format your partition or delete your partition by mistake? Just get proper recovery software to recover the formatted partition or the deleted partition. If you have already backed up the formatted/deleted partition using professional partition backup software, you can restore the partition from the backup without recovery software.