The cause · a format aimed at the wrong disk
Which format ran? The answer to that sets the limit on all the rest. More often than not, it was the quick sort: the index got swapped but the files stayed where they were (the least damage), and normally the folders come back with their names and dates. A completed full format is a different story altogether, and one you should really have over the telephone rather than after paying for postage. Whether you're in Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln or Leicester, the words of the call usually go like this: someone clicked Format on the wrong disk. Just stop right there and contact us. We'll assess your situation without charge. Cards and sticks are £250 + VAT, drives £300 + VAT, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
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| What it looks like | What usually causes it | What that means for you |
|---|---|---|
| A format box appeared, and you clicked through it | The index is blank, sitting where the original index used to be | Below it the files lie unscathed, so leave them alone |
| When opened, it is empty, with every byte listed as free space | The listing was swapped; what it used to point to has not moved | Nothing more gets written to it |
| A full format taken through to the end | From Vista onwards a full format puts a zero in each sector, and a zero holds nothing | There is nothing underneath to find |
| A full format interrupted part-way | Any areas the zero pass missed are still complete | Halt it and pull the power |
| clean, typed into diskpart | Removes the partition table and nothing beyond that; the volumes underneath remain intact | Recoverable, as a rule |
| clean all, typed into diskpart | Each sector receives a zero: the same finish as a full format allowed to run to completion | Zeros, and nothing else |
| An SSD given a quick format | TRIM has been sent, and a controller nobody instructed is clearing cells | Unplug it now |
Your case number is assigned when the item is received. Then an engineer works out what went wrong (no charge). At this point, you receive a basic summary of which parts are recoverable and which are not. You also receive a single written quote for the price of the recovery. Accept the quoted price or turn it down, and there is no obligation to pay anything.
Was it clean all, clean, a full format or a quick format? Did it complete? The ceiling on what can be recovered is set by that, so an engineer establishes it before discussing your chances.
All work is done against an image, and your own disk is never written to. The remains of the old file system are separated from the new one and reassembled. Read enough of those records and names, dates and the original tree come back along with the files.
With no structural information remaining, files are identified using the header each type starts with and taken off the image whole. Where a surviving record still names one, that name is returned with it.
A complete file list will be provided before any invoicing. Simply say "yes" or "no" to what we found: yes means it is billed, no means it is not, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. What we find is posted to you on media purchased specifically for your case, at no additional cost to you. We consider the process complete once you have opened those files yourself on your own computer.
Put plainly: good news, and usually a short job, is essentially what you get with a quick format by itself. A full format that ran to the end, or clean all typed at diskpart, is the reverse: intentionally, every single sector now contains a zero, which is how Windows has worked since Vista, and there isn't anything underneath to look for. Ask any company promising to undo one exactly how they plan to do that. Our answer comes before any price, and it costs nothing.
One tower with two 2TB disks of the same model, and the format landed on the disk holding the family archive instead of the spare. Because a quick format does nothing other than create a new table of contents, all of the data below it was still in place. Since nothing more was ever written to the disk, the archive came off exactly as it went on.
Usually, the lot. On a hard disk a quick format simply writes a fresh, empty index. The sectors below the index aren't even touched. Your files haven't moved; only the catalogue naming them has been swapped. If nothing was written to that disk after the quick format, most of the tree will come back with its names and dates.
Only where a full format ran right through to the end. From Windows Vista onwards a full format puts a zero in each sector it crosses, whereas a quick format writes nothing. Most of these jobs are settled by that one difference.
Shut down, leave the disk alone, and get an engineer to image it as soon as possible. Every new file you save lands on top of something that may still be recoverable.
No. An SSD normally sends out TRIM within a second of a quick format. The controller then blanks those freed-up blocks without being asked. Cut the power. Ring. Waiting costs you more on this job than on any other format job that comes in.
The look costs nothing. It gives you a file listing of what opened and what did not, along with the cost of finishing the job, in writing, before anything chargeable begins. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Do not switch the drive on until you have that listing.