How it was lost · formatted or wiped
Almost all accidental formats are quick formats: a fresh, empty index placed over files that have never been moved, and these are among our most pleasant of "problems". A full format that completes in its entirety presents a very different picture, and we would prefer to tell you about this right now, while your parcel is still in Exeter, as opposed to telling you later, once it has been diagnosed.
Talk it over with an engineer
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| The error | What it usually means | Step one |
|---|---|---|
| 'Do you want to format it?' — answered Yes | The quick format has written an empty table on top of the previous one | Now stop: the files are underneath |
| Windows shows a bare volume, every byte 'free' | The previous table is all that's gone; the data that it referenced, however, is still there | Write nothing else to it |
| A completed full format | In Vista and later, a full format writes a zero in each sector. That data really is gone | Honestly: not coming back |
| A full format stopped midway | Any sectors that didn't get written with zeros could survive | Stop it, then pull the plug |
| diskpart clean | Only the partition map will be removed, while all the volumes under it remain in place | The odds of recovery are very good |
| diskpart clean all | Zeros will be written from start to finish (the same effect as a full format) | Honestly: not coming back |
| Quick-formatted an SSD | The TRIM operation has been initiated, and the drive is currently erasing itself as you read this | Remove its power immediately |
Your device will be logged under its own case number on the day it comes into our lab. The engineer who works on your device identifies the problem with it, clearly states what we think has a good chance of coming back and provides you with one fixed quote. There are no charges for this assessment; there is no obligation for you to do anything; and paid work does not begin until you authorise us to start.
Full or quick? Clean or clean all? Did it stop short somewhere, or run through to the finish? All these answers decide what we ultimately plan and commit to, so we have to resolve those issues before we can even think about committing to anything.
Working on an image, we find the old file system under the new one and stitch it back together; where it survives, filenames, folder tree structures and date information all come along for the ride.
Where none of the structural information has survived from the original filesystem, we have to use other means: we use the files' signatures to determine which files belong to what type of file, and pull each one from the image with its content intact. Whenever possible, we can also restore each filename, based upon the evidence available.
You have access to a complete list of every item recovered from your device, which you approve prior to any fees being applied. The files will be returned via new media (brand new) with the return postage paid by us, and the case remains open for as long as it takes to confirm that all the files open properly on your own machine.
Honesty in print, where we can be held accountable for our words: the odds of recovering something after quickly formatting a hard drive are in your favour. When a full format is finished, or when you've used diskpart clean all, there is nothing left to recover, as each sector has been written with zeros by default since Vista. If a company claims they can recover data from a fully formatted HDD, ask them to explain how that would happen.
The two 2TB disks in the one tower were identical, and the installer formatted the wrong one, which contained all of the family archive. Since no data had been written to this disk after the formatting occurred, the old file table was still intact on the disk. Therefore, each folder was returned with the same name that it originally had.
Yes, generally. With a hard disk, a quick format just changes the index, but all of the files are in the exact location as before. As long as no additional information has been written to the area since then, you should see your entire folder trees restored as a matter of routine.
A finished full format does (Windows has zeroed out each sector since Vista), whereas a quick one doesn't. Almost everything listed on this page is dependent upon whether a full format or a quick format was performed.
Power it down and get it imaged. Any new writes after the slip will overwrite what you would otherwise have wanted to save.
A quick format on an SSD usually fires off TRIM as well, and the drive immediately begins deleting itself. Power it down and call us ASAP: of all the format jobs, this one has a time frame of just minutes.
Every time a failing hardware component is powered back up, there is additional lost data. First open a case with us: the inspection (look over) is always at no cost, whichever way it goes.