How to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive Free in Windows 10 | Qiling  

3 Ways for How to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive Free in Windows 10

Updated on Jun 12, 2024 | by Edwards

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It's painful to lose data after formatting a hard drive in Windows 10. However, there is no remedy for regret. What you need to do is to learn how to recover data from formatted hard drive in Windows 10 as soon as possible, decreasing the depressing. The following information tells you how to make your goal. Check the details below.

Part 1. Cases for Accidentally Formatted Hard Drive in Windows 10 and What Happened

"Windows 10 system automatically updated and a partition was forced to be formatted. How can I restore data from the formatted partition in Windows 10 PC for free?"

"A Window asked 'the disk is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?' and I clicked yes and did the format."

While searching for "how to data recovery from formatted hard drive free in Windows 10", you can always see people were doing the format for different reasons. Some do the formatting accidentally and some people do the formatting to fix errors on a hard disk. No matter what the reason it is, they get the same result. That is data get removed after formatting the hard disk.

Part 2. Must-Dos for Recovering Data from Formatted Hard Disk in Windows 10

Generally, files removed after formatting a hard drive can be recovered if you can follow the must-dos below.

1st , stop using the formatted hard drive or partition

After formatting a hard drive, all files are erased from the hard drive automatically. They're denied to be accessed physically, but they are still on the hard drive. If any new data is written to the hard drive, new data will replace the deleted one, making the deleted files lost permanently. In this case, do not use the formatted disk, including not transferring or saving any files on the hard drive or reformating it.

2nd , find the right way to restore data from formatted hard drive in Windows 10 for free.

After formatting a disk in Windows 10, you can see the drive is cleaned up, with the full capacity to be available. It means you can't see any files there at all, let alone finging files after formatting. In this case, you should choose a useful way to resume data from a formatted hard disk free in Windows 10. 3 ways to finish the task are introduced to you. Choose the one that's right for you. The sooner you perform the disk recovery, the better result you will get.

Method 1. How to Retrieve Files from Formatted Hard Drive Free in Windows 10

Qiling Free Data Recovery is a great tool to recover files from formatted hard drive in Windows 10 for free. It gets all the features you need for a hard drive formatting data recovery.

Your Best Free Data Recovery Software for Formatted Disk

(Trust Score 4.7 by 2693 Users)
  • Gets as many as 1000 file types, including photos, videos, documents, and more for free.
  • The best hard drive repair software supports hard drives of as many as 2000 types, including SSD, HDD, USB flash drives, computer internal hard drives, etc. no matter which hard drive you have formatted, you can depend on it to recover data from the formatted hard drive.
  • It can also help you recover data from a formatted hard drive in Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 7.

Freeware to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive in Windows 10 for Free

  1. Download and install free hard drive data recovery software.
  2. Click the DOWNLOAD button to get the program for unformat hard drive in Windows 10. It's virus-free and fully compatible with Windows 10. Feel free to get the tool.

  3. Scan formatted hard drive to extract data.
  4. Click "go to setting" to cancel unwanted file types
  5. go to setting by Qiling

    Launch the formatted disk recovery application. From the first window, you can see all hard drives are listed there. If the formatted disk is an external hard drive, connect it with your computer first. Hover over the list and click the "Scan" button beside the hard drive which was formatted.

    select formatted hard drive to scan
  6. Preview recoverable files from the formatted hard drive.
  7. Besides looking for the deleted files from the hard drive, the freeware will scan missing and hidden files from the formatted hard drive as well. You just need to be patient for the scanning process to finish. After then, you can filter files to preview.

  8. Select your lost files to save for free
  9. When finding the needed files, select them, and click "Recover" to save them on your computer, a new location. Please do not save the recovered files from the formatted hard drive to the hard drive again. It might get files removed again.

    recover data from formatted hard drive windows 10

Method 2. How to Recover Files from Formatted Hard Disk in Windows 10 Using CMD

If you merely use the command line on Windows 10 PC, it will not get data back from formatted hard drive at all. Here in this place, you should make use of Windows File Recovery. It's a freeware to help Windows 10 users to find missing and deleted files. Here are the steps.

  1. Download and install Windows File Recovery from Microsoft App Store.
  2. In the search box, type "Windows File Recovery" to search and launch it.
  3. When a pop-up tells you to allow the app to make changes to your device, select "Yes".
  4. In Command Prompt window, type in winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]
  5. Namely, if you want to restore PDF documents from C drive to E drive, you should type Winfr C: E: /regular /n *.pdf /n *.docx.

    To get JPG images back from C drive to E drive, type Winfr C: E: /extensive /n \Users\<username>\Pictures\*.JPG

  6. Confirm the action by entering Y.

A little complicated, right? Yes, to use the Windows File Recovery tool, you should know the command line and jargon. Otherwise, you can't use it for data recovery from a formatted disk in Windows 10 at all.

Method 3. Recover Data from Hard Drive after Formatted in Windows 10 with Data Recovery Service

If you do not know how to use software to solve computer problems, the only way to recover files from a formatted hard drive is by asking for help from a local disk recovery service.

  1. Search in google by typing in "local data recovery services".
  2. Fina the address near you.
  3. Take the formatted hard drive to the service
  4. Wait for a few days for the data recovery service to complete the disk recovery process.

3 Methods available, which one is better? Check the table below

  • Comparison
  • Deep Data Recovery
  • Windows File Recovery (Using Command Line)
  • Local Data Recovery Service
  • Data recovery duration
  • right away
  • right away
  • Several business days and some even last for weeks
  • Data recovery capacity
  • unlimited
  • Pointed file types, generally documents.
  • The more data you want to get, the higher price you need to pay
  • Privacy protection
  • Yes, to the formatted hard drive recovery for free on your Windows 10 PC
  • Yes, to the data recovery from formatted disk in your computer
  • No, you can't know who will do the formatted file recovery from the hard drive whether he will keep a backup
  • cost
  • Free to get up to 2GB files back. $49.95 for the file recovery lifetime license.
  • Free
  • It depends on how many files you want to find from the formatted hard drive
  • Suitable for who
  • Individuals who can operate on a computer without any problem
  • Individuals who know the command line
  • Individuals who don't know how to use free data recovery software for Windows 10 on a computer

Part 3. Frequently Asked Questions for How to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive in Windows 10

Q: Can a formatted drive be recovered?

It's similar to "Can you recover data from hard drive after formatting?" the answer is it depends. If you formatted the hard drive with Quick Format, then you can get data back from it.

Q: How do I recover files from a formatted hard drive free Windows 10?

You can make use of Deep Data Recovery to restore files from a formatted hard drive in Windows 10 for free. Here are the simple steps.

  1. Download and install Qiling free disk recovery tool on your Windows 10 PC.
  2. Launch the it and click "Scan" beside the formatted hard drive.
  3. Wait for the scanning process to finish. After then, you can preview all the recoverable files.
  4. Select needed files and click "Recover" to save the files to a new location on your Windows 10 PC.

The whole article is about data loss after formatting a hard drive and how to recover data from a formatted hard drive free in Windows 10. From this article, you will get 3 ways to retrieve files from a formatted disk. Get the one that's right for you. If you have any ideas or suggestions, you can contact us.

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