This article explains how to recover data after formatting a hard drive using Recuva.
After accidentally formatting a hard drive, recovering data may seem impossible, but with Recuva, it's quite achievable. Recuva allows you to recover deleted files from hard drives, memory cards, USB drives, and other media. Here's how you can recover data after formatting a hard drive using Recuva.
Launch Recuva. After installation, launch the program by double-clicking its icon on the desktop or in the Start menu.
Select the type of files you want to recover. In the initial Recuva wizard window, select the types of files you want to recover, such as documents, images, videos, music, and others. This helps the program focus on specific data types.
Specify the search location. On the next screen, specify where the deleted files were located before formatting. Choose the "On my media card or iPod" option to search the hard drive. If unsure, select "I'm not sure" to let the program scan the entire disk.
Start scanning. Click the "Start" button to let Recuva begin scanning your hard drive. This may take some time depending on the amount of data and the size of the disk.
Use deep scan if necessary. If Recuva doesn't find the needed files during the regular scan, go back to the initial screen and enable the "Enable Deep Scan" option. This will take longer but increases the chances of successful data recovery.
Review the scan results. After the scan is complete, the program will show a list of found files. You can use filters to simplify finding the needed data. Review the list and mark the files you want to recover.
Recover the selected files. Click the "Recover" button to save the selected files to another disk or media. Never save the recovered files to the same disk they were deleted from to avoid data overwrite.
Check the recovered files. After the recovery process is complete, open the files and ensure they work correctly and the data is not corrupted.