How to Recover Files from a
Formatted Hard Drive or USB

You formatted the wrong drive. Or Windows prompted you to format an unrecognized USB and you clicked Yes without thinking. Or a colleague formatted a shared external HDD thinking it was empty. Whatever happened, the immediate reaction is panic — and the immediate instinct is to start Googling for solutions.

Here's what you need to know right now: in most cases, your data is not gone. A quick format erases the file directory — the index Windows uses to find files — but the actual data remains on disk. With the right tool and fast action, you have a strong chance of recovering everything.

1. Quick Format vs. Full Format: A Critical Difference

When you format a drive in Windows, you're presented with a checkbox: "Quick Format." This seemingly minor option makes an enormous difference for data recovery.

By default, Windows uses Quick Format when you right-click a drive and choose Format — and most users leave the "Quick Format" checkbox ticked. This is actually great news if you're trying to recover: Quick Format is recoverable.

2. How File Carving Recovers Formatted Drives

When the file system table is gone, normal file recovery (Quick Scan) can't help — it relies on the table to find files. This is where Deep Scan / file carving takes over.

File carving reads the disk sector by sector, looking for recognizable byte patterns called file signatures (also known as magic bytes). Every file format starts with a known sequence of bytes:

• JPEG images always start with FF D8 FF
• PDF documents always start with 25 50 44 46 ("%PDF")
• ZIP files (including DOCX, XLSX, HWPX) start with 50 4B 03 04
• DWG CAD files start with 41 43 31 30 ("AC10")

HDH DataRecovery scans all 512-byte sectors of your drive sequentially and identifies file start signatures. When it finds one, it reads forward to determine file length and reconstruct the complete file. This works entirely independently of the file system table — which is why it succeeds even after formatting.

3. What to Expect: Recovery Rates After Formatting

Recovery success after formatting depends on several factors:

• Whether any new data was written after formatting — the biggest factor. Zero writes = near 100% recovery.
• Drive type — HDDs retain data reliably; SSDs with TRIM may have partially zeroed sectors.
• Time elapsed — on SSDs, TRIM can run in the background and zero sectors even without explicit user writes.
• File size — larger files spanning many sectors are more likely to have partial overwrite damage.
• File type — formats with unique signatures (JPG, PDF, DWG, HWP) are more reliably carved than plain text files.

4. Step-by-Step Recovery from a Formatted Drive

1. Stop All Writes to the Formatted Drive This is the most important step. Do not copy files to the formatted drive. Do not install software to it. If it's a USB drive, eject it immediately and keep it safe.
2. Install HDH DataRecovery on a Different Drive Download HDH DataRecovery and install it on your system drive, a secondary internal drive, or a USB stick — anywhere except the formatted drive you're trying to recover.
3. Connect the Formatted Drive For external HDDs and USBs, simply plug them in. For internal drives, keep them installed. HDH DataRecovery will detect all connected drives automatically.
4. Select the Drive and Run Deep Scan Select the formatted drive from the drive list. Choose Deep Scan — Quick Scan won't work here because the file table is gone. Deep Scan reads raw sectors and uses file carving. Estimated time: 20–90 minutes per 500GB depending on drive speed.
5. Browse and Preview Recovered Files After scanning, browse recovered files by type. Photos can be previewed as thumbnails. Documents show content previews. Note: folder structure and original file names may not be preserved after format — organize files by type and preview to identify them.
6. Recover to a Different Drive Select the files you want to recover and choose a save location on a different physical drive. Never save recovered files back to the source drive.

5. Formatted Drive Recovery by Device Type

6. Frequently Asked Questions