How it failed · formatted or wiped
Most accidental formats are quick formats — a fresh, empty index written over a drive full of intact data, and one of the most recoverable mistakes there is. A completed full format is a different animal, and we'd rather tell you that now than after a diagnosis.
Talk it through with an engineer
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| What you see | What it means | First move |
|---|---|---|
| Do you want to format it? — and you clicked Yes | A quick format wrote a fresh, empty file system over the old one | Stop — the data's beneath it |
| Drive shows a new letter and full free space | The old index is gone; the files it pointed at are still there | No new saves to that drive |
| Full format run and completed | Since Windows Vista, a full format writes zeros to every sector — the data is genuinely gone | Honesty: not recoverable |
| Full format started but cancelled | Sectors not yet zeroed can still hold data | Stop it and power down |
| diskpart clean | Only the partition table was removed — the volumes beneath survive | Very recoverable |
| diskpart clean all | Every sector zero-written, like a completed full format | Honesty: not recoverable |
| Quick-formatted an SSD | The format fired TRIM — the drive is erasing itself in the background | Pull power immediately |
Your device is logged with its own case reference the moment it arrives. An engineer assesses the fault, confirms what's actually recoverable, and you get a fixed price in writing — no diagnosis fee, no obligation, and no paid work until you say go.
Quick or full, clean or clean all, interrupted or completed — the history decides the strategy, so we work it out before promising anything.
On the image, the previous file system is located beneath the new one and rebuilt — names, folders and dates return where the old index survives.
Where structures are gone, every file type is carved by signature from the drive's surface — contents intact, names reconstructed where possible.
Before you pay the recovery fee you approve a full listing of what came back. Your data returns on new media with free return postage, and the case only closes once you've confirmed everything opens on your side.
The honest line we publish so you don't have to learn it twice: quick format — high recovery odds on HDDs; completed full format or diskpart clean all — zero, by design, since Windows Vista zero-fills every sector. Anyone quoting recovery from a completed full format on a hard drive deserves hard questions.
Two identical 2TB drives in one tower; the one holding the family archive got the fresh install's format. Nothing else was written — so the old file table was recovered whole, and every folder came back under its own name.
Usually, yes — on a hard drive a quick format replaces the index and leaves the data intact. If nothing new was written afterwards, full folder structures routinely come back.
A completed full format does — since Windows Vista it zero-fills every sector. A quick format doesn't. That single distinction is most of this page.
Stop using it, power it down, and get it imaged. The less that's written after the mistake, the more comes back.
Even a quick format typically fires TRIM, so the drive starts erasing itself immediately. Pull the power and get in touch fast — it's the one format scenario measured in minutes.
Every restart of a damaged device costs data. Open a case first — the diagnosis is free either way.