Can We Recover Files from Hard Drives Formatted Multiple Times?

How do I recover photos from memory card which was formatted three times? Does re-format a hard drive multiple times make any difference?

The biggest concern when disposing of old computers or other electronic devices is the personal or sensitive data doesn't get into the wrong hands. We've discussed how to safely and responsibly dispose of storage devices without raising potential privacy breach risks. But how about format the storage devices multiple times? Will it make the data recoverable? What if I accidentally formatted a hard drive twice and want to recover the files stored inside?

There are actually different types of formatting processes. In Windows operating systems, there are two kinds of format: quick format and 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 H Data Recovery Software can recover data from formatted disks. Their special algorithm enables you to scan, locate and reconstruct the deleted files.

A Full format will write zero to every sector of the drive to overwrite old data. This write-zero process is also known as erasing. 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.

How to Perform Different Format

1. In Windows Explorer

In Windows Explorer, right-click on the drive you wish to format and click Format... Option. Check the Quick format check box to perform a quick format of the select drive. Leave it unchecked to perform a full format instead.

2. In Command Prompt

You can also use the command format to execute the format, and choose to set the file systems along the way.

Please note that beginning in Windows Vista, by default the format drive: command equals to format drive: /p, which writes zeros to the whole disk once, unless you specifically use the quick format command format drive: /q. In Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows, the format command does not perform the basic drive sanitation. You can repeat the write zero process multiple times by adding a count to the command, for example, format d: /fs:NTFS /p:3 will zero-fill the D: drive 3 times and set the file system to NTFS .

In Conclusion

So, back to the question. Does formatting a drive multiple times make the data unrecoverable? It all depends on how you execute the format. If you quick format a hard drive, the number of repeated times does hardly matter. You can recover the lost data with software like H Data Recovery painlessly. If you perform a full format, even with one pass of zero-fill (overwrite with zero once), the data will be very likely unrecoverable. On the other hand, it is a good way to dispose of personal data.