Free Format Recovery Software 2022 | Easily Recover Formatted Hard Drive/USB Drive

Applies to: Free recover unformatted data from unformatted HDD/SSD, external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, etc.

Have you accidentally formatted the hard drive when Windows prompts "You need to format the disk in drive N: before you can use it"? And then lost important data?

Get your best unformatted solutions via the content navigation bar:

What does "Unformat" mean?

To understand what unformat means, you should first know the meaning of format.

"Format" usually refers to high-level formatting, which is the process of preparing a selected partition on a drive for use, including deleting all data and setting up a new file system.

“Unformat” refers to the recovery of lost data from a high-level formatted disk (such as a hard drive, USB flash drive, or memory card), and, if possible, restoration of the file system to its previous state.

So, how to unformat the wrong drive when you format the wrong device? For Mac users, you may refer to Unformat Mac Hard Drive for assistance. Windows users can follow this guide to safely unformat your drive and immediately recover all files.

What to Do When You Format the Wrong Drive

When you accidentally format the wrong storage device, such as a hard drive, external USB, or SD card, there are two things you should do:

• Firstly, stop using the formatted device. Do not add or save new files to the disk. • Then, turn to a reliable formatted recovery tool.

If you need free formatting software, Free Data Recovery Tool can help you.

[Best Free Formatting Recovery Software Downloads for 2022](#part3)

Free Data Recovery Software - Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition can perfectly solve this problem and help all levels of users easily recover formatted data from local hard drive, external hard drive, USB flash drive, memory card, etc.

If you have lost important files due to hard drive formatting, the Data Recovery Wizard utility can help you retrieve them.

This unformatted software is worth a try for its high performance, stability, and flexibility.

• Supports formatted recovery, undelete file recovery, disk partition recovery, system crash recovery, etc. • Supports all existing file types (photos, videos, audio files, documents, emails, etc.)

How to use Unformat Freeware to recover formatted data

To format the storage device, you need to follow these two procedures:

1. Recover Data from Formatted Hard Drive

Data Recovery Wizard makes it easy to recover formatted hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards, and more. Get back your lost files in just a few simple clicks and minutes.

< strong > Video Tutorial: How to Recover Files from a Formatted Hard Drive

Note: To ensure a higher chance of successful data recovery, install the data recovery tool on a different disk from the formatted one.

Step 1: Run AOMEI OneKey Recovery Wizard. Select the hard drive partition which you formatted by mistake and then click "Scan".

Step 2: The formatting hard drive recovery software will start scanning all the lost data and files. After the scan is completed, you can click on "Filter" to filter files of specific types for quick search of your needed files. Or you can click on "Search File or Folder" to select the data you want to recover.

Step 3: Preview the scanned files. Select the files you want to recover and click “Recover”. Choose a new location to save these files and then click “OK”.

Caution: Do not save recovered files back to the formatted device until you are sure that it can store data again.

These steps showed you how to unformat a hard drive. You can use the same method to recover data from other storage devices.

2. Format or restore the device to a previous file system (optional)

If you changed the device's file system during formatting and want to revert to the previous format, you can try reformatting and resetting the file system on the drive.

Therefore, we recommend that you save the recovered data to another secure location to prevent further data loss.

Here, we'll show you how to restore your device to a previous file system by formatting the USB to FAT32, for example:

Step 1: Connect the USB drive to your computer and press Windows + E to open File Explorer.

Step 2. Right-click on your USB drive and select "Format."

Step 3. Make sure the file system is set to FAT32 (assuming that this is the default) and have “Quick Format” checked. Click “Start.”

You can also use this method to restore your device to a different file system, provided you've used a free unformat utility to recover the formatted data and save it to a secure location first.

TIP: If you want to convert the FAT32 format back to NTFS on your storage device, you can try to convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data instead of formatting.

Bottom line

On this page, we explain what "unformat" means, which actually refers to the process of data recovery after formatting. When you accidentally format a hard drive, the first thing you should do is stop using the device, and then turn to a reliable unformat utility for help.

The powerful Unformat Software – Data Recovery Wizard can fully meet your needs and recover files from formatted disk in 3 easy steps.

If any of you wish to reset or restore the filesystem of your device to a previous state, you could format the drive again after saving the recovered data to a secure location.

Finally, to save yourself from formatting and loss of valuable files, it's wise to create a backup of your data. You can do this by manually copying and pasting the files, or by using reliable file backup software to safely store all your data in one go.