Formatted Drive Recovery: How to Recover Data After Formatting Your Drive

Have you accidentally formatted your hard drive and think everything’s gone forever? Well, relax, because you’re not alone, and you’re also not entirely out of luck. The biggest misconception people have about data loss is that formatting a hard drive permanently erases your files. The reality is that formatted data remains on the drive (just out of sight) until you overwrite it with new data.

Whatever your scenario—whether you quick-formatted your Windows PC, wiped an external USB drive by mistake, or reset an HDD partition by accident—there’s still a good chance that you can recover data from fully formatted hard disks (provided you act fast).

With the help of reliable data recovery software like Stellar Windows Data Recovery, it’s possible to recover your lost photos, videos, documents, and other files, even from fully formatted drives. In this article, we will bust all the common myths surrounding formatted drive recovery and walk you through the recovery process step-by-step with recommendations on the best tools to recover data from formatted drives.

What Happens When You Format a Drive? Is Formatted Data Really Gone? (The Big Myth)

Formatting a drive doesn’t immediately wipe your data—it simply removes the file system map that tells the operating system where your files are located. This means that your “lost” data remains on the drive itself until it gets overwritten by new information. This is why recovery is still possible after formatting, as long as you stop using the drive immediately to prevent overwriting.

Let’s look at the two common types of formatting:

• Quick Format: This deletes the file table but leaves all your data blocks intact. Thus, the chances of recovering data from quick-formatted drives are very high.
• Full Format: This scans the drive for bad sectors and may or may not overwrite data. Recovering data from full-formatted disks is still possible, but less likely.

Is It Possible to Recover Files After Formatting Your Hard Disk?

The myth that “formatted” means “permanently erased” comes from how your operating systems hide the formatted data and not because it’s truly gone. As long as the physical sectors containing your files haven’t been reused, you can try using powerful data recovery tools to retrieve them.

So yes, you can recover files after formatting your hard disk, just as long as you act quickly and avoid overwriting the drive. Formatted drive recovery is not only possible but can be fairly successful if you use the right tools.

That said, the success rate of your data recovery after format depends on these factors.

• 📂 Type of formatting: Data recovery from quick formats is less complex than that from full formats.
• 🛠️ Extent of use after formatting: Writing new data to your formatted hard drive drastically reduces the chances of data recovery.
• 📱 Drive type: Formatted hard drive recovery will generally be easier on your traditional HDDs than SSDs, due to TRIM functionality in SSDs that automatically clears up deleted files.
• ⚙️ File system: The approach you take for recovery will vary depending on whether your drive uses NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT.

If you’ve formatted a storage device (be it a formatted USB drive, external hard disk, or even an SSD), there’s a good chance your files are still on it, just invisible. Stop using the drive immediately and follow our guide in the next section to maximize the chances of recovering your formatted files!

How to Recover Data from a Formatted Drive (Step-by-Step)

If you’ve accidentally formatted your drive, the safest and most effective way to recover your files is to use a professional data recovery software. One of the most reliable tools available for formatted drive recovery is Stellar Windows Data Recovery.

This tool is designed to handle every imaginable recovery scenario, including recovering data from quick-formatted drives, restoring formatted hard disks, and even formatted SSD recovery. Here’s how you can use it:

1. Download and install the Stellar Windows Data Recovery Professional software on your system.
2. Run the app. In the section labelled “What To Recover,” you can select the different file types that you want to recover. Selecting All Data gives the most comprehensive results, but if you know what you’re looking for, you can individually select and search only for photos, videos, audios, etc.

3. Now click on Next, which takes you to the Recover From Here, you can select the drive, partition, or even folder from which you want to recover your formatted data.

4. Click Scan (you can alternatively click on the Deep Scan button first to perform a more in-depth search). Depending on the size of your drive, the software will take a few minutes and finish the scan.

5. After the scan, you can preview all the recoverable files that the software finds. If you have a product key, you can click on the Recover button and retrieve the files you need.

[Note: Make sure that you save these recovered files to a different location from where they were recovered! This prevents unnecessary data loss in case the formatted drive or partition is corrupted.]

And just like that, whether you need formatted USB drive recovery or formatted SSD recovery, Stellar’s robust software will help you recover your data in minutes.

Comparison of Stellar Windows Data Recovery to Other Software

Apart from Stellar Data Recovery, there are three reputable software that offer data recovery after format.

1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: It lets you recover up to 2GB in the free version, although going by reviews in online forums, users have mixed opinions on its efficacy.
2. Recuva: A lightweight, free formatted drive recovery software that can perform basic formatted disk recovery tasks, but it’s not as effective on heavily used or overwritten drives and has mixed reviews among the data recovery community.
3. Disk Drill: Gives you a sleek interface and supports a range of file systems and devices. However, its free version is limited to a measly 500MB, and its pricey subscription-based model will not suit everyone.

✅ Here’s how EaseUS, Recuva, and DiskDrill stack up against Stellar.

Feature	Stellar Data Recovery	EaseUS	Recuva	Disk Drill
Formatted Drive Recovery (Quick + Full)	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	⚠️ Limited	✅ Yes
File System Support (NTFS, FAT32, exFAT)	✅ Wide support	✅	✅	✅
Device Support (HDD, SSD, USB, SD Card)	✅ Broad	✅	⚠️ Limited	✅
Preview Before Recovery	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes
Free Recovery Limit	1GB (Free Edition)	2GB	Unlimited (but very basic)	500MB
Deep Scan Functionality	✅ Advanced	✅	❌ Basic only	✅ Advanced
User Interface	Professional yet intuitive	Beginner-friendly	Minimal	Clean & modern

As you can see, Stellar Windows Data Recovery is one of the best software to recover formatted drives. You can download it for free and recover up to 1GB of data at no cost!

Recovering Data From Specific Devices and Tips to Avoid Data Loss After Formatting

When it comes to formatted drive recovery, your success rate will often depend on the type of device you’re trying to restore. Different storage media, whether it’s a traditional hard disk, USB pen drive, memory card, or SSD, behave differently when formatted.

• 💽 Formatted Hard Drive Recovery (HDD): Traditional hard disks store your data magnetically, which means even after formatting, all the data clusters will remain until overwritten. Tools like Stellar Windows Data Recovery scan your drives for this residual data.
• 💾 Formatted USB Drive Recovery: Flash-based drives, such as a pen drive, are often used to quickly transfer files and are thus prone to accidental formatting. As long as you haven’t saved new data, formatted USB drive recovery is possible using tools that scan FAT32/exFAT systems.
• 📀 Formatted SSD Recovery: SSDs are a bit more complex due to the TRIM command. If TRIM is enabled on your SSD (which is usually the case in modern systems), the OS will actively clear deleted blocks over time, making formatted SSD recovery a lot more difficult. However, if TRIM was disabled or you’re using external SSDs, there still might be hope.

And if you want to prevent this headache next time altogether, follow these handy tips to avoid data loss after formatting.

• 🔄 Back Up Regularly: We strongly recommend that you use automated cloud or external backups to keep a duplicate copy of your files.
• 🧪 Double-Check Before Formatting: This might sound obvious, but always confirm the drive and partition you’re formatting is the correct one, especially during OS installations or partitioning.
• ❌ Avoid Full Formatting Sensitive Drives: If you suspect that you might need the data later, go for a full format only after creating backups.
• ⚙️ Enable Write Protection (USBs/SD cards): This prevents accidental deletion or formatting on your USB sticks and SD cards and is especially useful in shared environments.

Conclusion

Formatted data is often not lost forever, and data recovery after formatting hard drives can be done from the comfort of your own home using powerful tools like Stellar Windows Data Recovery, which can help restore formatted drives in just a few clicks.

Remember the most important rule when dealing with formatted hard drive recovery—stop using the formatted HDD immediately! This prevents your data from getting overwritten and greatly increases the odds of letting you recover files after formatting.

FAQs

1. Can I recover data from a formatted drive for free?

Yes, free formatted drive recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery can help recover up to 1 GB of data after formatting (provided no new data has been written to the drive).

2. Is it possible to recover data from a fully formatted hard disk?

Yes, recovery is possible after a full format, but the success rate depends on how much of your disk’s data has been overwritten. Tools like Stellar Windows Data Recovery improve your chances by performing deep scans.

3. What is the difference between quick format and full format in data recovery?

A quick format only deletes the file table, making data easier to restore. A full format wipes data more thoroughly, making recovery more difficult but not always impossible.

4. Can formatted SSDs be recovered?

Formatted SSD recovery is challenging if TRIM is enabled. However, some recovery is possible if TRIM hasn’t yet cleared the data blocks or if you’re using an external SSD.

5. What’s the best software to recover a formatted drive?

Stellar Windows Data Recovery is widely regarded as one of the best software options for formatted disk recovery and offers deep scans, file previews, and support for HDDs, SSDs, USBs, and more.