Formatting a computer hard drive allows you to prepare your storage disk for initiate use, creating space for new data and file systems. However, when you format your hard drive, it eventually leads to data loss issue where all its stored content, including your precious photos and videos, gets deleted. Losing important photos can be a distressful experience. Luckily, there are several photo recovery methods available online that you can try to recover photos from formatted hard drive.
In this article, we will explore various methods and photo recovery software to help you learn how to recover photos from a formatted hard drive easily. Just go with these methods one-by-one to restore your deleted photos.
What happens when you format a hard drive?
Before diving into recovery methods to recover photos from formatted hard drive, it’s important to understand what happens when you format a hard drive. Formatting essentially resets the file system, making it ready for new data. However, the actual data, including photos, still exists on the drive and remains there until you overwrite it with new files. This is why photo recovery is still possible, provided you act quickly and avoid using the drive after formatting.
Immediate actions before photo recovery
When you find data, including your precious photos are deleted from a hard drive, it is important to consider the below tips for easy and quick recovery:
- Stop Using the Drive: If you keep saving new files on the formatted hard drive, the greater the chances of overwriting the lost data. Once overwritten, the data becomes unrecoverable.
- Choose Reliable Recovery Software: Selecting the right photo recovery software is important for successful recovery. Different recovery tools offer different levels of efficiency and features, so carefully check their features and choose the one that best suits your requirements.
- Assess File System Type: Knowing your hard drive’s file system (e.g., NTFS, FAT32, exFAT) is important, as few photo recovery software tools are designed to work with specific file systems.
Quick methods to recover photos from a formatted hard drive
In this part of the blog, we’ve mentioned some quick and easy photo recovery methods that you can try photo recovery from formatted hard drives. Let’s get started!
Method 01: Recover photos using photo recovery software
Before you dive into manual methods to recover photos from a formatted hard drive, let’s start with the easiest and most effective approach for photo recovery. There are many photo recovery software available online that you can try to restore lost or deleted photos, the Stellar Photo Recovery is quite popular among them. This all-in-one photo recovery software allows you to restore photos lost due to accidental deletion, formatting, virus attacks, etc.
The Stellar Photo Recovery software supports the recovery of photos, videos, and audio files deleted from any internal or external storage devices. These tools are designed to scan your storage drive for recoverable files and restore them.
Key features of stellar photo recovery software
- Supports recovery of lost RAW files of popular camera brands, including Nikon, Canon, Sony, Kodak, Fuji, etc.
- Compatible with both Windows and Mac devices. Also available for Android devices and iPhones.
- Performs both Quick scan and Deep scan recovery options.
- Allows you to preview the recoverable files before saving them on your device.
- Supports recovery of photos, videos, and audio files of multiple file formats.
- 100% safe and secure software. Free from viruses and malware.
Here’s how to recover photos from a formatted hard drive using Stellar Photo Recovery software:
Step 1: Download and install the Stellar Photo Recovery software on your Windows PC/ Mac. Launch the software and from the homepage, select the drive, volume or external media where your deleted photo was earlier stored and click Scan.
Step 2: Preview the recoverable files and choose the photos, videos, and audio files that you need to restore.
Step 3: Click the Recover button to save selected files at the desired location.
Method 02: Recover photos using backups
If you have a habit of maintaining regular backups of your important photos, you can use these backups to restore lost or deleted photos. You can use cloud backup services like Google Photos, Google Drive, etc. or external hard drives to create a backup of your photos.
To restore lost your photos using Google Photos, you need to:
- Launch Google Photo on your device or visit photos.google.com.
- Log in with your Google Account where your photos were saved.
- Go to the Trash/Recycle Bin folder (located in the sidebar menu) where all your deleted photos are stored before permanent deletion.
- Locate and select the deleted photos you need to recover, then click the Restore
Once done, the deleted photos will be restored to your Google Photos library and appear in their original locations.
Method 03: Use file history backups to recover deleted photos
Windows OS provides an in-built File History backup utility to automatically create backup of your stored files, including photos. If you’ve enabled File History backup before the deletion of the photos, you may be able to restore your photos from the formatted hard drive. All you have to do is:
- Launch Control Panel, go to System and Security > File History.
- Click Restore personal files from the left pane.
- Now, go through the available backups of files and folders that appear on your screen.
- Select the photos you need to restore and click the green Restore button to save them to their original location.
Preventive tips to avoid data loss
While recovering photos from a formatted hard drive using the aforementioned photo recovery methods is possible, it’s always better to prevent data loss in the first place. Here are some preventive measures that you can try to protect your valuable photos and other data:
- Regular Backups: It is good practice to maintain regular backups of important files. Use cloud storage solutions like Google Drive, OneDrive, or physical backups like external hard drives to create backup of your important files.
- Avoid Accidental Formatting: Double-check before formatting any drive, and ensure that you are formatting the correct partition.
- Use Antivirus Software: As photos can be deleted from your device due to virus or malware attacks, it is better to protect your system from such malicious software attacks using a reliable antivirus software.
- Partition Your Drive: Create separate partitions for your operating system and personal files. This reduces the risk of losing data if one partition is formatted or corrupted.
Wrapping up
Recovering photos from a formatted hard drive is possible with the right photo recovery software tools and manual workarounds. Using photo recovery software like Stellar Photo Recovery can be an effective DIY solution. Moreover, you can check any previously created backup of your lost photos to restore them. However, the best way to protect your valuable photos is to implement preventive measures, such as regular backups, disk partitioning, and careful drive management. By acting quickly and choosing the right recovery method, you can maximize the chances of recovering your lost photos from a formatted hard drive and avoid permanent data loss.
