The cause · somebody formatted it
Which format ran? That one answer sets the ceiling on everything else. Almost always, it will be the quick format, which swaps the index over and leaves the files where they sat: minimal data loss, and most of these folders come back with their original names and dates. If a full format ran to the end, that is another matter, and it is best discussed by phone rather than after you have paid for postage. The calls sound the same from Reading, Newbury, Woodley, Didcot and Henley-on-Thames: someone clicked Format on the wrong disk. Stop there, call us, and the diagnosis costs nothing.
An engineer answers, and looking is free
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| What you notice | What is likely wrong | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Windows prompted you to format the disk, and you agreed | An empty index now covers the old one | Do not touch it: your files are still underneath |
| The drive appears empty, and every single byte is marked as free | Only the listing has been replaced; what it pointed to has not moved | Put nothing else on it |
| A full format taken to completion | In Vista and later versions of Windows, a full format places a zero in each sector, and a zero does not hold anything | There is nothing left to read |
| A full format stopped part-way | Any sector the zero pass did not reach remains unscathed | Stop it and cut the power |
| diskpart's clean command | Removes the partition table and stops there; the underlying volumes remain unchanged | Almost always recoverable |
| diskpart's clean all command | Writes zeros across all sectors: exactly the same result as a full format allowed to complete | Nothing readable remains |
| An SSD that was quick-formatted | TRIM has been sent, and the controller is emptying cells without anyone telling it to | Take the power off at once |
A case number is assigned to your device when we receive it. An engineer then finds the real fault (free) before anything else occurs; you will be advised clearly of what will be returned and what will not, along with a single written price. Charges cannot begin until you have read this and accepted.
Clean all, clean, a full format or a quick format: which one was it, and was it completed? This sets a firm limit on how much data can be recovered, and an engineer establishes it before discussing your chances.
Work is performed on the image; your original disk is not written to. What remains of the old file system is lifted clear of the new one and put back together again. As long as enough of its records can be read, names, dates and the original folder tree are restored along with the files.
Where nothing structural is left, each file is taken off the image entire, based on what its header (the first few bytes) identifies as its type. Where a file record still points at one, the name is retrieved along with it.
You look at the file list first and make a decision about what to do. We will never invoice anything until you have said yes, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. All of the information that we recover will be put on new media purchased by us specifically for this job, and our company pays the cost of postage back to you. The case stays open on the bench until you tell us the files open on your own machine.
The bottom line: a quick format on its own is good news and most likely a shorter job. If a full format finished (or clean all was typed into diskpart), it is the opposite: each sector has deliberately been given a zero, which is how Windows behaves from Vista onwards, and there is nothing underneath left to look for. Anyone who claims they can reverse a completed full format should be asked how they plan to do it. Here the answer comes at no charge, before any figure is quoted.
Two 2TB disks of the same model sat in the one tower, and the format went to the one holding the family archive rather than the spare. A quick format simply creates a new index on the disk; everything else remains in place underneath it, which is why anything was still there. Nothing had been written to the disk since the format, so the archive came back just as it was originally put on.
Normally everything. On a hard disk, a quick format writes a new, empty index and does not touch any of the underlying sectors. Your files remain intact; they have just lost their catalogue entry. So long as no other data is written to the drive, most of your folder tree will come back with its names and dates.
It can, but only if a full format ran all the way to the end. Since Windows Vista, a full format writes a zero to every sector it passes. A quick format, in contrast, writes none. This single difference settles most of these cases.
Switch off the computer. Keep the disk out of use and have an engineer image it before anything else touches it. Every file saved from now on settles over something that was still readable.
No. When an SSD is quick-formatted, the TRIM signal is usually sent within the second, and the controller then empties the released blocks by itself. Cut the power and call us. Of every format job that arrives here, this is the one where waiting costs you most.
There is no charge for the look. You then receive a list of the files that opened, those that did not, and a fixed amount to complete the job. Keep it switched off until you have received that in writing.