It is possible to recover data from a formatted drive, including the internal hard drive and external hard drive. In this post from MiniTool, we will walk you through several proven and effective workarounds to recover photos from a twice-formatted drive.
Is It Possible to Recover Photos from a Twice-Formatted Drive?
Photos must hold some precious memories or very important content. Therefore, it can be quite annoying and frustrating to lose these significant images due to formatting. It can be even worse if you format your drive again after accidentally formatting it once. The formatting type you choose affects the chances to recover photos from a twice-formatted drive.
There are two types of formatting on Windows:
- Quick Format: A Quick format overlays a new file system on a drive without physically erasing the data. While it may seem like all data is deleted, actually, it just removes logical links to files and folders, making the previous data inaccessible. In this situation, the data remains intact and is recoverable.
- Full Format: As the name indicates, the full format will remove all data from a hard drive and overwrite it with zeros or random data. After this point, it is harder to recover formatted data.
If you are looking for methods to recover photos from a twice-formatted drive, you are in the right place. Without any further ado, let’s dive into the specific ways to recover photos from a repeatedly formatted drive.
Way 1. Use MiniTool Power Data Recovery
In general, if you want to perform twice-formatted photo recovery without any cost, it is advisable to opt for a professional and free software for data recovery software. MiniTool Power Data Recovery, which is a green and read-only tool for restoring photos, videos, and other types of files, is highly recommended.
These tools can deeply scan your storage device and retrieve lost files even after deletion, formatting, or other complex situations. This tool has been trusted by millions of users globally for over 20 years. It offers a 100% safe, read-only recovery method, guaranteeing that your data stays intact without any danger of being overwritten. Its free version allows you to preview files at no cost and offers 1 GB of free selective recovery.
Now, click the button below to download MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free onto your computer, and follow the instructions below to recover photos from a twice-formatted drive.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 1. Launch the App and Scan the Target Partition
Open MiniTool Power Data Recovery to enter its main interface. Next, you need to choose the specific partition, folder, or disk that you want to scan for lost photos.
- Logical Drives: In this section, all the partitions available on your computer will be listed. You need to identify the drive that you have formatted twice or more. After that, hover your mouse cursor over the desired drive and click the Scan button.
- From a Specific Location: In this option, you can select to scan the Desktop, Recycle Bin, or a particular folder for lost files. This is a great option to shorten the scanning time.
- Devices: Proceeding to this module, you can choose to scan an entire disk for lost files. This is ideal when recovering files from multiple partitions on a disk simultaneously.
For this example, we will take scanning the SD card under the Logical Drives tab.

Step 2. Use the Type Feature to Located Lost Photos
Once the full scan is done, you can go to the Type category and expand the Picture folder to find all lost photos. You can right-click on a file to change the view mode between list and thumbnails.

Step 3. Tick the Desired Files and Save Them
Tick all required files and click the Save button. Then you will be prompted to choose a location to store the recovered files. Pick one separate from the original location and click OK to confirm.

Way 2. Use MiniTool Photo Recovery
Alternatively, to recover a specific file type, you can choose a professional photo recovery tool. Minool Photo Recovery for your reference.
This specialized photo recovery software provides an intuitive interface and simple wizards that help you easily recover lost photos. Moreover, whether you are using a Mac or a Windows computer, you can utilize this professional photo recovery tool to recover lost photos for free.
You can download and install MiniTool Photo Recovery effortlessly by clicking on the button below.
MiniTool Windows Photo RecoveryClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
In this guide, we will use Windows 10 as an example to explore how to utilize MiniTool Photo Recovery for recovering formatted photos.
Step 1. Scan the Formatted Hard Drive
Open MiniTool Photo Recovery to access its main interface, as illustrated below, and then click on the Start button to initiate the photo recovery process. Choose the formatted hard drive and click the Scan button located in the lower right corner.

Step 2. Preview and Save Wanted Photos
Preview the found images and select all necessary files, then click the Save button and choose Browse to select an appropriate location to save them. It is highly recommended to save them to a different drive.

Verdict
This post introduces two proven ways to recover photos from a twice-formatted drive on Windows. Hope the information can be useful for you.
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