About File Recovery: Full Format Vs. Quick Format

Many users panicked when they accidentally formatted their hard drives. They would turn to professionals or the Internet for help, asking “ Is it possible to recover data from formatted hard drives?” and later be surprised to find out that they very likely can.

With 3rd party data recovery software like Hdata Recovery, you can easily recover data from formatted disks or accidentally deleted partitions. Note that when we talk about “format”, we are often referring to “quick format”. Is there any other way to format a disk? What would the differences be？

Low-Level Formatting and High-Level Formatting

There are two steps involved in formatting magnetic media such as hard disk drives. 

In the first step, the actual structures are created on the magnetic surface. This means recording the tracks and marking the start of each sector on each track. Different IDs are assigned to each track and sector to prepare the hard disk drive for use. This is called low-level formatting, sometimes "true formatting" or “physical formatting” since it is physically recording the format that will be used to store data. Low-level formatting is done during the manufacturing process of hard disk drives and is mostly not available to end-users.  

The second formatting step is called high-level formatting. This is the process of creating logical structures such as the file systems and root directory. The high-level format uses the structures created by the low-level format to prepare the disk to hold files using the chosen file system. Users can perform high-level formatting anytime they want, to rebuild the file system or to sanitize the hard drive for recycle. 

Full Format vs. Quick Format

“Quick format” is a form of high-level formatting, the other being “full format”. As indicated by their name, they differ in the amount of time needed to complete a formatting. However, there is more behind this seemingly obvious difference.

A quick format will only erase the file table from the filesystem. The operating system will not locate any files without their index so when you look at the hard drive you would not see any data and assume the drive is erased. In fact, the files are actually still there untouched and can be accessed again with the right tool. This is how software like Hdata Recovery can recovery data from formatted disks. Their special algorithm enables you to scan, view and recovery any files you wish. Also the drive is not checked for bad sectors during quick format.

On the other hand, a Full format will write zero to the entire drive to overwrite (erase) the old data. The exact amount of time required to complete the process depends on the capacity of the HDD. The larger the capacity the longer it will take. As a Full Format would wipe your drives clean, the data stored on them will become unrecoverable. This is very useful when you are disposing of or recycling your hard drives containing senstive or personal information. Repeat the Full Format process serveral times to minimize data remanence (or ease paranoia). Additionally, A full format also checks the hard drive for bad sectors.

Conclusion

A Quick Format is handy, easy to use but not very safe as a means to dispose of sensitive data. A Full Format is time-consuming but can benefit your HDD if it is riddled with bad sectors and other issues. It can also protect your data from prying eyes. You can judge upon the two methods according to your own need and choose what you think is best for you.

Lastly, if you prepare to to recover data from quick formatted drives, the key is to act quickly and never to write new data into the formatted drives, in order to avoid overwritting.