Accidentally Formatted Hard Drive? Unformat Hard Drive Right Now!

Format vs Unformat

Format: It is the process of preparing a partition for data storage by deleting all the data on it and set up a file system for the drive. You will need to format a hard drive in some specific situations like when your hard drive has a RAW file system, Windows reports "disk not formatted", or your hard drive is infected by a virus. In addition to these cases, you may accidentally format your hard drive or external storage devices, which happens frequently among users. 

Unformat: It is the process of recovering data from a formatted storage device, be it a hard drive, a USB flash drive, or an SD card. Unformatting a hard drive is needed when users want to recover their data lost due to format. It can only be done with third-party software or manual data recovery services.

How to Unformat a Hard Drive with Data Recovery Software

To unformat hard drive, in other words, users need to recover all data that wiped from the hard drive. As mentioned before, you have to pick up a data recovery service to execute the recovering process. Here we recommend a hard drive recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. It could help you unformat the HDD and get your files back in simple steps.

Besides recovering data from formatted hard drive, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can do more for you:

• Recover All Kinds of Lost Data. It also supports to recover deleted files emptied from the Recycle Bin or data lost due to partition loss, software crash, virus infection, boot-up problem, or other reasons.
• Recover Data from Various Devices. It can also perform data recovery from USB flash drives, memory cards, digital cameras, and other conventional storage devices.
• Preview Before Recovery. To make sure the file contents are alright, it enables you to preview lost files before the actual recovery.

Now download the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and follow the guide below to unformat HDD.

Steps to Unformat HDD with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard:

Note: To guarantee a high data recovery chance, please install EaseUS data recovery software on another disk instead of the formatted disk. 

Step 1. Click the hard drive that has been formatted by mistake and click "Scan".

Step 2. The software starts scanning all lost data on the selected hard drive.

You can use "Filter" to specific file type if you have difficulty in looking for wanted files. You can also search the file extension of lost files , such as .png, .doc or .mp4, etc. or input its file name in the Search box to quickly locate them.

Step 3. Finally, select to preview all the wanted files and click "Recover". Choose a new location to store the files and click "OK".

As long as your formatted files are not overwritten by new content, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard will help to get back all your lost files from the hard drive. If the 

Why Can We Unformat HDD？

In this part, we will demonstrate the theory of unformatting a hard drive. If you want to know why a formatted hard drive can be recovered. Keep reading and check more details.

For all the storage devices, there are two types of format: quick format and full format. A quick format only writes the blocks that contain the file system structure and delete all files from the device, while a full format writes zeroes to all data sectors. After a quick format, the data are still on the hard drive and you just don't have the access to it. By rebuilding the volume, you can access and recover the formatted files.

However, as mentioned, overwritten data cannot be recovered, which means the data lost after a full format cannot be retrieved. Luckily, in Windows, a quick format is the default format option. Thus, if you accidentally formatted a hard drive, it is a quick format and you can unformat your hard drive using data recovery software.

The Bottom Line

When you accidentally formatted a hard drive, USB flash drive, memory card, or other storage devices, don't worry. Stop using your device and apply data recovery software to unformat your hard drive. Then you will get all your files back.