Recover Files from Repeatedly Formatted Hard Drives

How do I recover photos from memory card which was formatted three times? Does re-format a hard drive multiple times make any difference?

The biggest concern when disposing of old computers or other electronic devices is the personal or sensitive data doesn’t get into the wrong hands. How about format the storage devices multiple times? Will it make the data recoverable? What if I accidentally formatted a hard drive twice and want to recover the files stored inside?

There are actually different types of formatting processes. In Windows operating systems, there are two kinds of format: quick format and full format. As indicated by their name, they differ in the amount of time needed to complete a formatting. However, there is more behind this seemingly obvious difference.

A quick format will only erase the file table from the filesystem. The operating system will not locate any files without their index so when you look at the hard drive you would not see any data and assume the drive is erased. In fact, the files are actually still there untouched and can be accessed again with the right tool. This is how software like H Data Recovery Software can recover data from formatted disks. Their special algorithm enables you to scan, locate and reconstruct the deleted files.

A Full format will write zero to every sector of the drive to overwrite old data. This write-zero process is also known as erasing. The exact amount of time required to complete the process depends on the capacity of the HDD. The larger the capacity the longer it will take. As a Full Format would wipe your drives clean, the data stored on them will become unrecoverable. This is very useful when you are disposing of or recycling your hard drives containing sensitive or personal information.

So, does formatting a drive multiple times make the data unrecoverable? It all depends on how you execute the format. If you quick format a hard drive, the number of repeated times does hardly matter. You can recover the lost data with software like H Data Recovery painlessly. If you perform a full format, even with one pass of zero-fill (overwrite with zero once), the data will be very likely unrecoverable. On the other hand, it is a good way to dispose of personal data.

Performing data recovery with H Data Recovery Software is just within a few clicks. Please proceed as follows:

Step 1. Install and Launch H Data Recovery Software and select “Formatted Hard Drive Accidentally”

Step 2. Select the partition where your files used to be before they get deleted. Click Next to start the scan process.

Step 3. When scanning is done, you will be able to see all the files that can be recovered. Check the files you wish to recover and click next to start the recovering process. You can choose a safe directory to save the newly recovered files. It is advised that you don’t save them to the drive or partition where the data loss occurred to avoid potential overwriting.