Recover files deleted by Formatting is an important process of setting up a storage medium.
What are the most popular ones? This may be an unreadable RAW file system, physical damage to the HDD, a virus that has crept into one of its sectors, or hardware incompatibility of some components of your computer.
All these errors are united by one factor – although they can happen through the fault of the user, they are nevertheless more autonomous (that is, they can occur at any time, regardless of your actions).
Today we will analyze such an important topic as formatted data recovery. Agree, what could be less annoying than cleaning up a hard drive or Flash drive with valuable files forgotten on them?
However, before we proceed directly to recovery, let’s study what formatting is and what the file system is. also know about which version of windows you are using.
What is formatting?
Formatting is primarily an important process of setting up a storage medium, and not just a tool for instantly erasing existing files or correcting errors on a disk. It is usually used before installing a new operating system, thereby clearing space for it and opening the door to a clean slate.
Disk formatting can be performed on both hard magnetic disks and solid-state drives. The process of this utility includes the following parameters:
- Low level formatting. Helps in preparing the wearer’s physical structure.
- Partitioning disk space into logical partitions. Allows you to create different volumes. We are used to seeing them as Local Disk (C 🙂 , Local Disk (D 🙂 , etc.
- High-level formatting. Allows you to clean up space on your hard drive or any other storage device.
Before proceeding directly to formatting the device, the utility makes a full check for all kinds of damage and, if necessary, fixes them.
That is why, if it is impossible to “cure” a potential threat, users are advised to completely format the drive.
Formatting a disk is an action that must be taken with the utmost care, since there is a risk of permanent loss of files, and frequent use of the utility often leads to rapid wear of the device.
Differences between fast and full format
If you need to format any drive and instead of the official names you see the option “Fast and Easy” opposing its competitor “Waste of time”, we hasten to inform you – Microsoft had very good technological reasons for separating them. Choosing one or another type of formatting, you have to decide what you still need to do with the device.
- Full formatting.
Experts unanimously say that full formatting is ideal for working directly with a computer, since it completely erases all information. Thus, having deleted documents in this way, there is practically no chance of recovering files.
This type of formatting is useful not only for cleaning the device, it also checks the hard disk for bad sectors. - Fast formatting.
The absolute opposite of full formatting. Its main difference is not working with the hard disk, but with its file system. This suggests that using this function, you do not clean up the hard disk, but only destroy the file system library. Files deleted by quick format can be fully recovered.
The file system and how it works
The file system is an very important Windows service process that controls where the data and how it is stored. He oversees the following operations:
- Storage management. This can be either a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD) space.
- File name management.
- Working with directories and folders.
- Management of access rights and privileges.
There are only a few types of file systems applicable to Windows OS: FAT, FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS. The first three will be an excellent choice when working with removable drives, while NTFS only makes sense to install on hard and solid-state drives. This is due to the peculiarities of the operation of each of the systems.
FAT32
FAT32 is the oldest and has been used by Microsoft in the operating system since Windows 95 – it replaced its predecessor FAT16. As you probably understand, the age of this file system leaves certain imprints on its functionality, and nowadays it is used only because it has become a kind of standard. This is also done so that the newly acquired Flash drive can work not only on modern devices, but also on old ones.
One of the main limitations of this file system is the extremely small maximum volume size. Each separately considered document cannot exceed the 4 GB limit, which creates some difficulties for fans of computer games and users who have to work with other large files.
Nevertheless, FAT32 firmly established itself in the removable storage market and is actively used to this day.
exFAT
If we translate the name of the exFAT (Extended FAT) file system into Eng, Recover files we get such a definition as “Extended FAT”. The exFAT system was created primarily for Flash drives and SD cards, whose users regularly have to deal with the use of large files.
Speaking about the advantages, in comparison with the predecessor of FAT32, it is important to note the decrease in the number of rewriting of the same sector of the disk in case of deletion of any document. This tells us that devices with this file system will be able to live significantly more without losing efficiency. In addition, the theoretical maximum of a downloadable file is at least 16 exabytes, which is several times larger than the size of the terabyte we are used to.
NTFS
Everyone who has ever started a computer and who had to work at least a little with such a utility as “Explorer” is familiar with this file system. NTFS is the main and only system capable of fully functioning with large computer hard drives. One of the reasons for this is additional compression and encryption mechanisms, which provide additional reliability and safety in operation.
You can always assign your own personal access rights for each selected file, for example, to read or write new documents. Using this feature of the file system allows you to maintain full control over the privacy of each user, avoiding unauthorized access to personal information.
In addition, the NTFS file system has high performance and is able to process a huge amount of information in a short period of time. It is for this reason that NTFS is the only correct choice for working with hard drives.
How file systems work
To understand how the file system works, let’s imagine one huge library. Books are our installed files, and the librarian is the file system that Recover files and interacts directly with all documents. Whenever you try to find a book (file), the librarian (file system) brings you either the document itself or other information depending on what you requested.
What kind of mess can formatting make?
It is difficult to call such a process a disorder in the truest sense of the word. Nevertheless, it brings some chaos to our library.
The bottom line is that when you start formatting, the file system does not delete the existing files, it only “forgets” their location, writing new ones in place of the “forgotten” documents. It is this feature that is our main enemy on the way to data recovery. Therefore, in case of erasing files by formatting, it is extremely important not to install anything new unless you want to permanently lose them.
Note
Although Windows is the only operating system released by Microsoft, it has undergone major changes over the years. In particular, this concerns the formatting table.
By formatting a hard disk with Windows 7, you, as described above, make the file system forget the paths to all documents. In Windows 10, things are a little different – this operating system overwrites the data location tables. Nevertheless, this is not a significant obstacle on the way to recovering documents, since it remains possible to return them by signature (format).
Recovering files after formatting
Appendix Starus of Partition of Recovery – Professional software is able to recover files of any format in the shortest possible time.
A simple, intuitive Eng-language interface will help you get used to all the nuances of the functionality literally in the first minute and thereby save your personal time, eliminating the need to study long tutorials.
If you work only with a specific file system, pay attention to the simplified analogs of the program that work only with one of the main systems – Starus FAT Recovery and Starus NTFS Recovery.
An important feature of the program is that it is able to recover documents by their signature. This suggests that even if you have performed full formatting, thereby destroying the file system library, Starus Partition Recovery will be able to easily recover any documents according to its format.
Consider the following fact before proceeding with the recovery:
If you want to bring a large file back to life, there is the potential for fragmentation. The program will make every effort to restore it, however, some elements may be irretrievably lost. However, it is important to note that this does not mean that you cannot open the video file. Even having lost some frames, it will still be available for further viewing.
We hope the article was useful for you and helped you figure out the formatting and recovery issue.