Question Trying to recover from an SD card

[mikeymikec]

The card was accidentally quick-formatted and hasn't been used since. I've taken an image of it using GetDataBack for FAT, and while it scanned the storage it spotted quite a lot of file starting points, yet no matter what mode I run the recovery system in, it can see nothing except what's showing up in the current file system. I assume the camera that was used for the quick-format isn't capable of changing the card's file system so it should be FAT32. What software would people recommend I try next?

 

[razel]

Try to do a partition recovery 1st. If you are lucky the quick format didn't overwrite possible copies of the Master File Table (the index of files and location). You have a very high chance of 100% recovery if the file system was NTFS. Otherwise you are left with file signature recovery which is rarely perfect, but is fine for pictures/media since those can be corrupt but at least you didn't lose it permanently.

I often start wtih Recuva, but last I used it, it became bloated and you have to try very hard to avoid it from installing more than just Recuva itself. It also doesn't do a good job of distinguishing between partition recovery vs. file signature recovery. However it is easy to use and gives you an idea of your situation.

After which I go to TestDisk/PhotoRec. TestDisk is partition recovery and PhotoRec is file signature recovery. Both are text based, but TestDisk is extremely powerful.