How to Recover Data from a Formatted USB Drive?

USB drives, also known as flash drives, thumb drives, or memory sticks, are compact, portable storage devices that use flash memory to store and transport data between devices. Most USB drives are compact and lightweight, making them simple to carry around in a pocket or fasten to a keychain. USBs can be used on various devices, including PCs, laptops, and mobile devices, and range in storage capacity from a few gigabytes to several terabytes.

So now you have got to know some basic information about USB drives; we’ll provide you with some more details in the coming section.

What Happens When You Format The USB?

When you format a USB drive, all the data on the USB drive is deleted, and a new file system is installed. This effectively cleans the drive and makes any files or folders previously saved inaccessible.

Why do users format their USB drives?

You might format your USB drive in several scenarios. Here are some reasons you need to format a USB drive.

• Changing the file system: Formatting a USB drive can also be done to change the file system, such as from FAT32 to NTFS, to better suit the needs of the device or OS you plan to use it with.
• Repairing errors: If your USB drive has errors, formatting it can help to repair those errors.
• Preparing for use: Formatting a USB drive can be necessary if it has never been used before or if you want to prepare it for some specific purpose, such as creating a bootable drive for installing an operating system or running a particular application.
• Removing virus or malware: If your USB drive is infected with a virus or malware, formatting the drive can remove the virus and make the drive usable again.
• Deleting all data: If you want to delete all data on the USB drive, formatting will wipe all files and folders from the drive.

What Happens When You Format The USB?

• When you format a USB drive, all the data on the USB drive is deleted, and a new file system is installed. This effectively cleans the drive and makes any files or folders previously saved inaccessible.

Can A Formatted USB Drive Be Recovered?

• In general, formatting a USB drive erases all the data saved on the drive, making it difficult to recover the files using DIY methods. However, some data recovery software can recover some or all of the data from a formatted USB drive.

• The success of data recovery from a formatted USB drive depends on several factors, including the file system used on the drive, the extent of the formatting process, and whether new data has been written to the drive since formatting. For example, suppose the formatting process was a quick format, which simply erases the file allocation table and directory information. In that case, some data recovery software might be able to recover the data.

• We have mentioned below the most recommended DIY method to recover data from a formatted USB drive. 

How to Recover Data From Formatted USB Drives?

Method 1: Recover USB Formatted Files Using Data Recovery Software.

According to the information above, the longer you wait to recover data from a formatted USB drive, the less likely the data will be restored. Therefore, use Yodot hard drive recovery as soon as possible to recover the formatted data. The software is user-friendly and capable of recovering formatted data; once you have downloaded, installed, and launched the software, it helps recover the formatted USB data in the below steps.

• Step 1: Download and install Yodot Hard Drive Recovery.

• Step 2:  After installing the Yodot hard drive recovery software, Launch the tool and choose from the following steps.

• Step 3: Select the Formatted/Reformatted Recovery option on the main window.

• Step 4: Select file types that you want to recover. If you are going to restore the entire data from the formatted drive, click the Skip button.

• Step 5: After scanning the formatted hard drive and its partitions, the software lists recovered data in File Type View and Data View.

• Step 6: Select and Preview the required data.

• Step 7: Finally, save the recovered data from the formatted USB drive to the required location.

Note: Do not add any new data on the same formatted USB or modify anything on it from where the data has been recovered. Since adding new files or working on the same drive overwrites the hidden files on it, this reduces the chance of recovering data from the formatted USB drive.

Why is the Yodot Hard Drive Recovery tool best for USB drive recovery?

Yodot hard drive recovery tool is a preferred choice of thousands of USB users when it comes to recovering data from formatted USB.

Method 2: Recover data from a formatted USB drive with a File History.

It is easy for users who have created a backup for the formatted data. If you use a native Windows tool to do backups for your formatted USB drive data, you can restore the backup file to simply retrieve formatted USB data in case of data loss.

Follow the below-mentioned steps to recover lost data using Windows backup via File History.

• Step 1: Select the control panel > System and Security > Restore your files with File History under File History.

• Step 2: Click on Restore personal files.

• Step 3:  Locate your needed files and click on the Restore button.

I’m sure you have safely recovered formatted data from USB after using the methods mentioned above. Follow the steps mentioned below to prevent data loss.

Tips to Safely Use a USB Drive and Prevent Data Loss.

• The most important thing you can do to recover data from a formatted USB drive is to STOP USING THE DEVICE RIGHT AWAY! This gives you the best chance of getting back your lost data.
• Low-quality USB drives are prone to failure, so getting a high-quality and reliable Pen Drive to save your essential files makes sense
• Always scan your USB drive for viruses before using it. This is really important if you’re using a USB drive previously used on another computer.
• Avoid using public computers to access or store sensitive information on your USB drive. Public computers can have malware and viruses that can infect your USB drive.
• Always take a backup of your essential files on your computer, the cloud, or any external storage devices. Just to ensure you have a copy of your files if your USB drive fails or is lost

Conclusion:

Just because you’ve lost important data doesn’t mean getting it back is impossible. In this article, we’ve described two methods Recover the Formatted USB Drive Using Yodot hard drive Recovery Software and  Recover data from a formatted USB drive with a File History by taking the help of Yodot Hard Drive Recovery.

Frequently Asked Questions.