Jul 28, 2025 • Filed to: Photo/Video/Audio Solutions • Proven solutions
It's a common problem that you mistakenly format your camera memory card, hard drive, or external hard drive. Now you must be anxious to search on the Internet: "Is it possible to recover photos after format" or "How to recover formatted photos?".
Most digital cameras or hard drives these days DO NOT delete pictures permanently from your storage device (SD card or external hard drive) when you delete photos using the Format option. So you don't need to be too worried. You have a good chance to recover formatted photos.
Having memorable photos and videos on your camera or SD card is like having a treasure in your hand. Sometimes by chance, you might delete the data due to any mistake or in anger as well. Many people format their photos mistakenly and panic at this moment as those deleted memories could be difficult or impossible to retrieve again.
But there's one thing you should pay attention to. This is what happened to my friend Rachel.
Then I told her this was very wrong because new photos would overwrite the space where the old ones are located. Then it appears that she can just recover parts of the photos in Paris, some of which are incomplete. That's what I want to tell you: do not keep using your photo storage device after formatting in case of the data overwriting.
Although Rachel's recovery experience is not quite successful, we can still learn the steps. So now I will give you a step-by-step guide about how to recover formatted photos.
I'm using Recoverit Format Recovery. The software does help me recover my lost photos from the Canon digital camera. I do not have much professional tech-savvy. However, when using it, I can do this job within several clicks and in a minute. Here are the other features I get from the format data recovery software.
Step 1. Download and Connect
Free download and install Recoverit on your computer. Make sure the memory card where your formatted photos are stored is connected to the computer and detected.
Step 2. Select the formatted memory card
Select the location where your photos are formatted. Here, it should be your camera memory card. Click the "Start" button to process.
Step 3. Scan the SD card for formatted photos
A quick scan will work immediately to search for your formatted photos. Meanwhile, you can see the real-time scanning results on the interface, allowing you to check the results at any time.
Step 4. Preview and recover photos after format
Once the scan finishes, you can preview the scanned photos and click on the "Recover" button to save the photos you want.
Now, you know how to recover formatted photos. As you can see, to do the job, Recoverit Format Recovery is needed. That's because the photo recovery software simplifies the data rescue job and increases the chance of photo recovery.
You can also resort to the video guide for vivid details.
Many people use GoPro to retrieve their lost data. However, they may also be likely to lose the videos as GoPro follows a procedure called chaptering by splitting the videos into short videos to protect the entire video from getting corrupted.
Moreover, you should always remember that cameras do not delete your data permanently. When you press the delete button in your digital camera, the data may be stored somewhere in the camera.
To recover such data, you can use applications like Wonderrshare Recoverit. It will help you out in recovering your data within a few minutes.
Having memorable photos and videos on your camera or SD card is like having a treasure in your hand. Sometimes by chance, you might delete the data due to any mistake or in anger as well. Many people format their photos mistakenly and panic at this moment as those deleted memories could be difficult or impossible to retrieve again.
Formatting SD cards, hard discs, or cameras have almost similar steps. You can delete the entire data from the SD card on your mobile, camera, or Windows. Follow the proper steps to format the SD card, camera, or hard disc.
Format SD Card Photos on the Computer
You can also format the SD card directly on your camera from the 'Format Card' option, or, you can also directly format the camera and hard disc from their settings.
Sometimes it is necessary to format the device for various reasons. Accidental formatting of the devices may lead to the loss of all our data, and it can also cause many other problems. Let me tell you some useful tips to prevent the accidental loss of data from the device.
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Eleanor Reed
staff Editor