Two very different operations share the name. A quick format takes seconds, writes a fresh empty index and leaves every file physically in place. A full format takes hours and writes zeros over the lot. How long yours took tells you most of what you need to know.
$ mdr diagnose /dev/sdb → Device: SanDisk SD card (256 GB) · camera → Status: FORMATTED — file system reset, data intact → Client: confidential · Burnley BB11 $ mdr engineer-working → Forensic image: taken · originals untouched → Previous file system: rebuilt → Found: 3,180 / 3,210 files $ mdr verify → ✓ photos — 2,940 files → ✓ video — 240 clips → ✓ formatted card — recovered
A format almost never destroys your files — it replaces the index describing them. What destroys them is what gets written afterwards, so put the drive aside and don’t use it as somewhere to save the recovery software.
The difference decides whether this is straightforward or impossible, and most people did the recoverable one.
A quick format writes a fresh empty index and marks the whole volume as available. It takes seconds because it does not touch your data at all — every file remains physically present, simply undescribed. This is the default in Windows, the only option in cameras, and what almost everyone means when they say they formatted something.
A full format in modern Windows also writes zeros across the entire volume. It takes hours rather than seconds, which is the giveaway. If the format completed in a few seconds it was quick, and your data is very likely still there. If it ground away for two hours, expect much less — and on an SSD, expect nothing.
The file system involved changes how much structure survives alongside the data.
Each turns a recoverable format into a partial one.
Tens of gigabytes written directly over the volume. The single most damaging response, and a common one when the format was part of a repair attempt.
The installer writes into exactly the free space holding your files. Install it somewhere else, and recover to a third location.
“Just to check it works” puts new data at the start of the free space, which is where the recovery would have started reading.
It happens, usually from a belief that formatting properly will help. It converts a recoverable situation into an unrecoverable one in about an hour.
A format is a logical fault, so the price follows the device rather than the difficulty.
Cards and USB sticks are from £250 +VAT; drives and SSDs are from £300 +VAT. Both fixed after a free 48-hour diagnostic, and most are no fix, no fee.
Where the media is mechanically healthy and the format was quick, this is a case where software often works and we will say so. The diagnostic tells you which of the two formats happened and what survived, and that answer costs you nothing whichever way you then go.
Get the device to us with a short note on what happened. The diagnostic that follows costs nothing, and the figure that follows it is fixed in writing before any work begins.
Nothing can begin until the device is on the bench, which makes this the only step that needs anything from you. Pack it properly, put your details in with it, and send it over. What follows is a free diagnostic and a written figure, in that order.
Posting it? Use something tracked and insured — whatever is on the drive is worth considerably more than the postage. Bringing it in? Weekdays, 9am to 5:30pm, and it still wants packing as above for the journey.
Tell us what the device is, what it is doing, and anything already tried — an engineer will come back with a realistic view of the odds and a price band, before you commit to posting anything.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 0161 871 0788.
What people most often ask about recovering formatted drives, cards and sticks.
Usually, if it was a quick format — which is the default in Windows and the only option in cameras. A quick format writes a new empty index and leaves your files physically in place. A full format on modern Windows also writes zeros, and that is far less recoverable.
By how long it took. A quick format completes in seconds; a full format grinds away for an hour or more on any reasonably sized drive. If it was over almost immediately, your data is very likely still there.
Reduced, but rarely zero. A Windows install writes tens of gigabytes, so anything underneath it is gone, but drives are usually far larger than that and material outside the installed area frequently survives.
On NTFS, often — Windows keeps a backup master file table that a quick format frequently leaves intact. On FAT32 and exFAT, less reliably: the data recovers well but names and folders may not.
Where the media is mechanically healthy and the format was quick, frequently yes. Install the software to a different drive and recover to a third location — never back onto the formatted volume.
From £250 plus VAT for cards and USB media, from £300 plus VAT for drives and SSDs, fixed after a free 48-hour diagnostic with most jobs no fix, no fee.
A free diagnostic, no fix no fee on most jobs, and formatted-media recovery off any drive, stick or card. The less you write to it, the more comes back — begin today.