Disk Reformatting and Data Recovery

Disk formatting and data recovery are scary words to hear. Data... it can be stored on the smallest of devices like memory cards, it can be transferred from one device to another, like from your PC to your flash drive etc. Easy to store, easy to remove and unfortunately easy to lose. But do we really lose data even when we format a disk whether it be intentionally or unintentionally? What happens when we format a disk? What happens to the data? Basically, when we format a disk, all data stored on it is erased by the operating system. When we say “erase” we are actually talking about wiping the “address tables”, not the data stored on it. So you can think of it this way: just because you can't see it on the computer screen, it doesn't mean it's not there.

Once you format your disk and assign a new address table to it, what happens is that the new address table tells your system that more storage is now available. If you accidentally formatted your disk and you need data recovery, then you need to reformat your disk so your data becomes visible again.

How To Reformat A Disk For Data Recovery

Now that we know data recovery means bringing the stored information back to its original address table, the question is how to fetch the old data to bring it back to its original address table. When you look for information on the internet about this topic you will see many different suggestions and options. Not all information you read online is reliable. Especially, if we are talking about really important data, one little mistake can result in overwriting it forever. Like saving new data on a formatted disk. You will need well designed software to guide you through the process to perform this job and the best way to do it is to always contact an IT support company and get professional help from the experts.

There might be different types of files saved on your disk and you might not be able to find the exact location of certain files without the proper knowledge. In the end, when you have the chance to recover what you need, you can risk losing it by doing something wrong. There are different levels of disk formatting, and as a result there are different levels of data recovery. What we usually perform in most cases is something that we call “low level formatting”. To recover data from this you might simply need “format recovery” but depending on the results you get, you might find out that the corruption is more serious than you thought. In which case you would need an “advanced recovery”. This is why you need to consult a data recovery expert to perform the job for you so you can recover your data with the least amount of damage.

TH2 specializes in data protection, Orange County IT company and San Diego IT services.