How to recover
A Quick Formatted Drive
from Windows

"I accidentally quick formatted a hard drive and lost some important files saved in that drive. Can I possibly undo the format and recover data after quick format? Please let me know if you have any reliable quick format recovery tool or software for a recommendation. Thanks!"

A quick format usually leaves the data area on the drive intact and resets the file system information instead of wiping every sector. That is why files can often still be recovered after the format, but the recovery window narrows as soon as new data is written to the same disk. The central problem is not that the files instantly vanish from the physical medium, but that Windows no longer has the file system map it needs to point to them in a normal way.

The loss can appear sudden because the formatted drive may open as empty, RAW, or inaccessible, even though the storage itself is still readable at the hardware level. In many cases, the user only notices the damage after the formatting process finishes and previously visible folders are gone. That can happen on internal hard drives, external drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, and memory cards, all of which may still contain recoverable fragments after a quick format.

Quick format recovery becomes harder if the drive is used after the mistake. New files, browser caches, downloads, and even routine background activity can overwrite the same space that once held the lost data. The source material stresses this point for a reason: if you keep writing to the formatted device, the odds of getting the original files back fall quickly, because recovery tools can only reconstruct what has not yet been replaced.

The format itself explains why the situation is confusing. A quick format does not perform a full scan for bad sectors and does not overwrite the entire disk the way a full format does. Instead, it removes the saved file references and marks the volume ready for use, which makes the drive look clean while the previous file contents may still sit beneath the surface. That difference is what makes unformatting possible in the first place.

source material also points to a practical order for recovery: first use a data recovery program, then try data recovery services if the drive is still not fully restored, and finally fall back to backup-based recovery if a backup already exists. These paths are not interchangeable. Each one depends on a different condition, such as whether the lost files are still detectable on the disk, whether an engineer can work on the device, or whether Windows Backup and Restore already captured the data before the format happened.

Because a quick format usually changes the file system rather than erasing the whole disk, the main task is to rebuild access to the old data without writing anything new to the affected volume. That is why recovery software is normally used from another disk, and why the article’s methods move from the most accessible built-in option to the more specialized service route. Here are 3 ways to recover a quick formatted drive in Windows.

Method 1. Recover the Quick Formatted Drive with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

This method fits the most common recovery case because a scan-based tool can locate lost files on a formatted drive when the file system is damaged, invalid, or shown as RAW. It is the first choice when the drive still responds normally and you want to preview recoverable files before restoring them elsewhere.

Download and install EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on another disk, not the formatted drive.

Launch the program and choose the partition that was accidentally quick formatted.

Click Search for Lost Data to begin a full scan of the drive.

Wait for the scan to complete, then use Filter or the search box to narrow the results.

Preview the found files and select the items you want to restore.

Click Recover and save the files to a new location or cloud drive.

Method 2. Request Help from EaseUS Data Recovery Services

This route is appropriate when software scanning does not reveal everything you need or when the device needs specialist handling. The service option is designed for cases involving damaged storage, lost partitions, RAW drives, encrypted drives, and more complex recovery conditions that may not be solved by a consumer scan.

Stop using the formatted drive immediately to protect the remaining data.

Save any files already recovered to a separate safe location first.

Contact the data recovery service for a free evaluation.

Describe the device type, the quick format event, and any symptoms you see.

Wait for the engineer to assess whether the drive can be repaired or imaged.

Approve the recovery work only after the evaluation explains the likely outcome.

Method 3. Restore Files with Backup and Restore (Windows 7)

This method works only if the files were backed up before the quick format happened, but it is the simplest path when a backup exists. The built-in Windows tool can restore local files and folders without relying on the formatted drive itself, which avoids the overwrite risk that comes with trying to recover directly from the disk.

Open Control Panel in Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Select System and Security, then open Backup and Restore.

Choose Restore my data.

Click Browse to select the files or folders you want to bring back.

Click Next, then pick a target location that is not the original formatted drive.

Click Restore to copy the backed-up files back to your system.

Šaltinis: easeus.com