Cause of loss · formatted disks
Most accidental formats involve the quick format method, in which a new, blank index is laid on top of files that were never moved. Of all the ways to lose information, few methods are as kind as this. A full format allowed to finish as intended is quite a different story. We want you to know about that before you send something to us from Maidenhead instead of after you do so.
Describe the fault to an engineer
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| The signs | The likely cause | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Windows prompted you to format the drive and you accepted the request | An old catalogue was removed and replaced with an empty one | Stop right there. All of your files remain underneath this empty catalogue. |
| Explorer displays the new empty volume as if all available space is free | Only the catalogue has changed. Everything the catalogue referenced remains. | Do not write anything to that hard drive |
| The full format was allowed to continue to the end | Since Vista, each sector will be set to zero with a full format. That is really gone for good. | Candidly: unrecoverable |
| A full format was stopped midway | Whatever was outside the zeroed area can survive | Cancel the format, then turn off the computer |
| diskpart clean | This only wipes your partition table; all of the content is still there | Strong prospects |
| diskpart clean all | Wipes the entire drive clean with zeros, same thing that happens during a full format | Candidly: unrecoverable |
| An SSD that has been quick-formatted | TRIM has completed; now the controller is clearing out its own memory cells | Shut down the system now |
Nothing is chargeable until you say yes. Every item gets a case number of its own immediately upon receipt, an engineer determines what has failed, and you get a clear picture of which files have a real possibility of being recovered. The single quote that follows is fixed, written down and does not cost anything.
Whether the format was quick or full, clean or clean all, and if the operation successfully completed must first be determined, before any promise is made, as these factors importantly dictate the approach taken.
On a given image, we search underneath the new file system for remnants of the previous one and reconstruct it; if enough records survive we can restore file names, dates and folders along with the contents.
If no structure survives, we can retrieve file types from the images through their byte signatures, keeping the contents intact, and restoring the file names where clues are available.
You don't get charged anything until you've confirmed and authorised that everything is fine after seeing the entire list of what was recovered. Any recovered items are returned via brand-new storage media and the postage costs for these are covered by us. We do not consider a project complete here until we receive confirmation that you have been able to successfully access and review every item you received back.
To give you an idea of where you stand: when a disk is only quick-formatted, it is still possible to recover data. However, if you let a full format finish, or set clean all going in diskpart, there is nothing left to recover after that, because all the sectors were zeroed out on purpose, and that is how it has been done with Windows since Vista. If a company tells you that they are able to recover data from a fully formatted disk, simply ask them how.
The disk was saved because nothing new had been written to it after the problem occurred. There were two identical disks: two 2 terabyte disks in the same tower. The installer just quick-formatted the family archive instead of the spare. Because of the original file table having survived, each folder came back under its own name.
Virtually nothing changes with a quick format on your hard drive because the quick format does not erase the content but simply changes the index; provided there is no new data input, complete folder structures can be restored.
If you end up doing a full format and it runs to the end, it does erase for good, because of how Microsoft has set up Windows operating systems to write zeroes in every sector since Vista; a quick format does not, and that difference is what decides most cases.
The last thing you want to do is use your device; instead, shut it off immediately and have it imaged. Using the device, or writing any content since the accident happened, will overwrite files that were still recoverable.
It will not: with SSDs, initiating a quick format usually causes TRIM to engage immediately, and the controller begins clearing out cells within a matter of seconds. Turn off the power immediately and call us, because, of all the format cases, this is the one where minutes count.
Every additional power-up asks for even more of a drive that is already starting to fail. First open a case with us, and let the free diagnosis tell you how much remains.