{"id":8410,"date":"2020-01-09T00:56:46","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T00:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/?p=8410"},"modified":"2026-04-07T10:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T10:06:00","slug":"recover-formatted-sd-card-mac-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Recover Formatted SD Card on Windows and Mac"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-22507\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/categoryMediumSdCard@2x.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/categoryMediumSdCard@2x.png 100w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/categoryMediumSdCard@2x-24x24.png 24w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/categoryMediumSdCard@2x-48x48.png 48w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/categoryMediumSdCard@2x-96x96.png 96w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/>When you type the phrase &#8220;recover formatted sd card&#8221; into Google, you get 18,700,000 results. That&#8217;s an awful lot of results for something so specific. Apparently, many people often manage to format their SD cards by accident and are desperate to restore what was once on them.<\/p>\r\n<p>While accidentally formatting an SD card can be a frustrating experience, there&#8217;s often a good chance to recover your lost data. In this guide, we&#8217;ll walk you through the process of recovering formatted SD cards on both Windows and Mac, using a combination of specialized data recovery software and readily available tools.<\/p>\r\n<p><b>Quick Navigation<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><a href=\"#dd-windows\">Recover Formatted SD Card on Windows<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li><a href=\"#dd-macos\">Recover Formatted SD Card on macOS<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-info\" role=\"alert\">&#x1f4a1; <b>Do this first<\/b>: Before starting the recovery process, you should take a few precautions. First, stop using the SD card immediately, don&#8217;t save new photos or videos to it, and don&#8217;t format it again, because any new data can overwrite what you&#8217;re trying to recover. Also, if your SD card has a physical lock switch, slide it to the Lock position to prevent accidental writes. Then connect the card to your computer with a reliable card reader so it&#8217;s ready to scan.<\/div>\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"is_it_possible_to_recover_deleted_files_from_a_formatted_sd_card\"><\/span>Is It Possible to Recover Deleted Files from a Formatted SD Card?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p><b>Yes, it&#8217;s possible to recover deleted files from a formatted SD card.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p>That&#8217;s because the most common formatting method (called <a href=\"\/howto\/recover-quick-formatted-drive.html\">Quick format<\/a> in Windows) only marks the card&#8217;s storage space as available, without erasing the data. Essentially, the card appears empty, but the underlying files remain intact until new data overwrites them. Likewise, the default format option on Windows, macOS, cameras, and other devices that use memory cards resets the file system and marks the space as free, but they don&#8217;t actually wipe every sector on the card.<\/p>\r\n<p>With that in mind, downloading an <a href=\"\/memory-card-data-recovery.html\">SD card recovery software<\/a> capable of restoring data from a formatted SD card should be your first step because it&#8217;s more likely than other solutions to deliver great results.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" class=\"embed-responsive-item\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lJZTb0buKeY\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p><b>There are two notable exceptions where recovery becomes impossible:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>The first is <b>when a full format or secure format method is used<\/b>. These methods go beyond just marking the storage space as empty. Instead, they overwrite the entire storage area with zeros or random data, leaving nothing to recover.<\/li>\r\n<li>The second exception catches a lot of people off guard: <b>certain Sony cameras issue a low-level SD_ERASE command<\/b> (using SD card controller commands CMD32, CMD33, and CMD38) when you format the card through the camera&#8217;s menu. Even though it looks like a normal format, this process wipes the card at the hardware level, and no recovery software can bring that data back. Not all Sony models behave this way, but enough do that it&#8217;s worth knowing about. If you&#8217;re unsure whether your camera performs a low-level erase, it&#8217;s always a good idea to scan the card with recovery software first and check. Better to spend a few minutes confirming than to assume the worst.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_can_an_sd_card_become_formatted\"><\/span>How Can an SD Card Become Formatted?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p>There are many ways a card can end up formatted. More often than not, the cause is user error, though not always. <b>Some of the usual reasons your SD card can show up as formatted are:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f9f9; <b>Absent-mindedly formatting the wrong SD card<\/b>. It&#8217;s easy to get distracted, especially when working with multiple SD cards. That&#8217;s why you should always double-check that you&#8217;re selecting the correct card before initiating a format process.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f4db; <b>Formatting to an incompatible file system.<\/b> Different devices and operating systems work with different file systems (like FAT32, exFAT, NTFS). Formatting an SD card to a file system your other devices don&#8217;t recognize can make the card appear as if it needs to be formatted again.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x26a0;&#xfe0f; <b>Abruptly removing the SD card or powering off the device.<\/b> Disconnecting an SD card during an active read or write process can seriously corrupt the file system. This type of corruption often makes the card seem formatted.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x26d3;&#xfe0f;&#x200d;&#x1f4a5; <b>Formatting the card because of a file system error.<\/b> Sometimes Windows, macOS, or a camera will tell you the SD card is unreadable and &#8220;needs to be formatted&#8221; before you can use it (maybe the file system is damaged or the connection is loose). A lot of users just click Format to get the card working again, and the result is that the card ends up &#8220;formatted&#8221; even though the real goal was fixing the error, not erasing files.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f47e; <b>Virus or malware attack.<\/b> Malicious software can sometimes target storage devices, corrupting file systems or intentionally formatting your SD card.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f4f9; <b>Digital cameras formatting the SD card<\/b>. Not all digital cameras and camcorders are predictable and well-designed, and some make it way too easy to format a newly inserted SD card, or they do it on their own.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>But regardless of the reason, formatting doesn&#8217;t always mean your files are completely gone. You can always attempt recovery using data recovery software. Let&#8217;s explain how that works in the next section.<\/p>\r\n<h2 id=\"dd-windows\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_to_recover_data_from_a_formatted_sd_card_on_windows\"><\/span>How to Recover Data from a Formatted SD Card on Windows<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p>We&#8217;ll explore 3 methods you can use to easily recover missing data from a formatted SD card on Windows.<\/p>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_1_recover_data_from_a_formatted_sd_card_using_software\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 1:<\/span> <span id=\"software-win\">Recover Data from a Formatted SD Card using Software<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>If you want a straightforward, reliable way to get your files back, <a href=\"\/memory-card-data-recovery.html\">Disk Drill SD card recovery<\/a> is a great place to start. It can scan your card even after a quick format, locate recoverable files, and let you preview everything before you commit to the full recovery. The whole process is simple and free to try, so you can see whether your photos and videos are still intact without any guesswork.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"relative bottom download__block\">\r\n            <div class=\"d-flex align-center download__block__inner\">\r\n                <div class=\"download__block__image-wrapper\">\r\n                <div class=\"download__block__image\">\r\n                    <img src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/sidebar-ban-96.png\" srcset=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/sidebar-ban-2x-1.png 2x\" alt=\"Disk Drill\" width=\"96\" height=\"96\">        \r\n                <\/div>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"download__block__announce\">\r\n                    <b>download-block-title<\/b><br>\r\n                    download-block-text\r\n                <\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"download__block__action\">\r\n                    <a href=\"\/\/download.html\" data-href-mac=\/\/disk-drill-mac.html data-href-win=\/\/disk-drill-win.html class=\"button button-green btn-md osreplace\">\r\n<svg width=\"16\" height=\"16\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\r\n<path d=\"M11.9546 7.293C11.8736 7.114 11.6956 7 11.4996 7H9.49957V0.5C9.49957 0.224 9.27557 0 8.99957 0H6.99957C6.72357 0 6.49957 0.224 6.49957 0.5V7H4.49957C4.30357 7 4.12557 7.115 4.04457 7.293C3.96257 7.472 3.99457 7.681 4.12357 7.829L7.62357 11.829C7.71857 11.938 7.85557 12 7.99957 12C8.14357 12 8.28057 11.937 8.37557 11.829L11.8756 7.829C12.0056 7.682 12.0356 7.472 11.9546 7.293Z\" fill=\"white\"\/>\r\n<path d=\"M13.5 11V14H2.5V11H0.5V15C0.5 15.553 0.948 16 1.5 16H14.5C15.053 16 15.5 15.553 15.5 15V11H13.5Z\" fill=\"white\"\/>\r\n<\/svg>\r\ndownload-block-button-text\r\n<\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n<p><b>Steps to Recover Deleted Files from a Formatted SD Card<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li><b>Insert the formatted SD card<\/b> into your computer. Disk Drill can detect and recover even SD cards that are not displayed in File Explorer, which may come in handy if your card hasn&#8217;t been assigned a drive letter or is without a file system.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Scan your SD card with Disk Drill<\/b>. With your SD card inserted, launch Disk Drill and select the card from the list of available storage devices. Click the <b>Search for lost data<\/b> button to start the recovery process. Disk Drill will then present two scan options: <b>Universal Scan<\/b> and <b>Advanced Camera Recovery<\/b>. If your formatted SD card was used to store video footage, go with Advanced Camera Recovery. It&#8217;s built specifically to locate and reconstruct video files from camera and memory card media. For photos, documents, and other file types, Universal Scan is the way to go.<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49655 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-and-start-scan.jpg\" alt=\"Select formatted SD card and start scan in Disk Drill\" width=\"2729\" height=\"1545\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-and-start-scan.jpg 2729w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-and-start-scan-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-and-start-scan-500x283.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-and-start-scan-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-and-start-scan-1536x870.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-and-start-scan-2048x1159.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2729px) 100vw, 2729px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Wait for the scan or browse early results.<\/b> You can wait until Disk Drill finishes scanning or choose to review found files with scanning continuing in the background.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Preview your files.<\/b> When Disk Drill locates lost content on your formatted SD card, it will give you the option to either restore everything or prioritize the files you need the most. If you choose the manual route, you&#8217;ll then be able to preview and select the files you want to recover. You can also activate scan result filters to display only certain files, such as pictures or videos.<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49644 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-found-items-on-sd-card.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill for Windows recovering files from a formatted memory card\" width=\"2729\" height=\"1545\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-found-items-on-sd-card.jpg 2729w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-found-items-on-sd-card-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-found-items-on-sd-card-500x283.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-found-items-on-sd-card-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-found-items-on-sd-card-1536x870.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-found-items-on-sd-card-2048x1159.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2729px) 100vw, 2729px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Select files for recovery.<\/b> If you&#8217;ve decided to recover only specific files, then you need to click the checkboxes next to them to tell Disk Drill that these are the items you wish to retrieve.<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49651 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-files-for-recover-from-sd-card.jpg\" alt=\"Photo recovery from a formatted SD card using Disk Drill\" width=\"2729\" height=\"1545\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-files-for-recover-from-sd-card.jpg 2729w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-files-for-recover-from-sd-card-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-files-for-recover-from-sd-card-500x283.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-files-for-recover-from-sd-card-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-files-for-recover-from-sd-card-1536x870.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-files-for-recover-from-sd-card-2048x1159.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2729px) 100vw, 2729px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Press the Recover button<\/b>, and choose where you&#8217;d like Disk Drill to save the recovered files. Make sure to select a different storage device from the formatted SD card otherwise, you could overwrite the very same files you&#8217;re trying to recover.<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49642 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-location-1.jpg\" alt=\"Windows software restoring data from a memory card\" width=\"2729\" height=\"1545\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-location-1.jpg 2729w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-location-1-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-location-1-500x283.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-location-1-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-location-1-1536x870.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-location-1-2048x1159.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2729px) 100vw, 2729px\" \/><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>With Disk Drill, recovering the content of a formatted SD card couldn&#8217;t be simpler. Best of all, you can <a href=\"\/download.html\">download Disk Drill for free<\/a> from the official website.<\/p>\r\n<p>Currently, there are dozens if not hundreds of <a href=\"\/howto\/best-sd-recovery-software.html\">memory card data recovery programs<\/a> available for Windows and macOS. Some of them will cost you an arm and a leg while others are free to download. Many handle only a few file formats, but the best support hundreds. There are data recovery solutions so complicated even IT professionals would struggle to use them, and alternatives so simple you can recover your files in a few clicks.<\/p>\r\n<p>The challenge lies in finding software that&#8217;s both effective and easy-to-use (it also helps if it&#8217;s affordable and comes with a free version that you can use to determine the recoverability of your data before you whip out your credit card). One excellent option for both Windows and macOS users is Disk Drill. <b>Here&#8217;s why Disk Drill stands out:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f4c4; <b>Comprehensive file format support<\/b>: Disk Drill recovers hundreds of file types, including photos, videos, documents, archives, and more. RAW photo and video file formats are supported especially well.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f9be; <b>Powerful recovery algorithms<\/b>: Disk Drill incorporates multiple recovery methods that enable it to perform in-depth scans of formatted SD cards. This includes its Advanced Camera Recovery module, which is specifically built to reconstruct fragmented video files from <a href=\"\/howto\/gopro-recovery.html\">GoPro<\/a>, DJI, <a href=\"\/howto\/canon-photo-recovery.html\">Canon<\/a>, and other cameras.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f917; <b>User-friendly interface<\/b>: The software features an intuitive interface so even those without technical expertise can use it successfully.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f4be; <b>RAW SD card support<\/b>: Disk Drill is great at handling RAW file systems, which is a common scenario when SD cards are corrupted or improperly formatted.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f5bc;&#xfe0f; <b>Unlimited preview capabilities<\/b>: Before proceeding with the full recovery process, Disk Drill allows users to preview recoverable files without any restrictions and for free.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\nvar fired2 = false;\r\nwindow.addEventListener('scroll', () => {\r\n    if (fired2 === false) {\r\n        fired2 = true;\r\n        setTimeout(() => {\r\n            var headID = document.getElementsByTagName(\"head\")[0];         \r\n            var newScript = document.createElement('script');\r\n            newScript.type = 'text\/javascript';\r\n            newScript.src = 'https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js';\r\n            headID.appendChild(newScript);\r\n                }, 1000)\r\n    } \/\/ endif\r\n});\r\n<\/script><p><\/p>\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\r\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">FAM!! I DELETED SOME FILES BY ACCIDENT ON MY MEMORY CARD!! LITERALLY 15MINS WORTH OF FOOTAGE! I TRIED MANY RECOVER PROGRAMS ALLLLLL NIGHT! PROBABLY SPEND $300 ON SCAM ONES! FINALLY GOT ONE! BIG TIP FOR ANY YOUTUBERS WHO NEED THIS IN THE FUTURE! USE DISK DRILL!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u2014 Cash &#x270c;&#x1f3fe;HYPE (@CashNastyGaming) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CashNastyGaming\/status\/1270001272704417792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 8, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_2_restore_the_previous_backup\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 2:<\/span> <span id=\"backup-win\">Restore the Previous Backup<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>The backup solutions accompanying Windows usually work only for local storage devices. That means they don&#8217;t include removable devices like USB flash drives or SD cards. So, theoretically, they can&#8217;t help if you want to get data back from a formatted SD card. Still, if you had also stored the files you want to get back on such a local device, maybe you can salvage them from one of those backups.<\/p>\r\n<p><img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49647 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/restore-files-from-sd-card-with-file-history.jpg\" alt=\"Windows Backup and Restore\" width=\"2052\" height=\"1428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/restore-files-from-sd-card-with-file-history.jpg 2052w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/restore-files-from-sd-card-with-file-history-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/restore-files-from-sd-card-with-file-history-500x348.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/restore-files-from-sd-card-with-file-history-768x534.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/restore-files-from-sd-card-with-file-history-1536x1069.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/restore-files-from-sd-card-with-file-history-2048x1425.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2052px) 100vw, 2052px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_3_recover_files_with_windows_file_recovery_winfr\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 3:<\/span> <span id=\"winfr-win\">Recover Files with Windows File Recovery (WinFR)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>If Disk Drill isn&#8217;t an option and you&#8217;d rather stick with a completely free tool, then <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.microsoft.com\/detail\/9n26s50ln705\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Windows File Recovery<\/a> is worth a try, and it&#8217;s developed by Microsoft, so you can trust it with your data. You can find this tool in the Microsoft Store, and you&#8217;ll need Windows 10 version 2004 or later (or Windows 11) to download it. However, the biggest obstacle to using Windows File Recovery is that there&#8217;s no graphical interface.<\/p>\r\n<p>Instead of clicking buttons, you run everything through typed commands in Command Prompt, which can feel intimidating if you&#8217;re not used to working in the terminal. Windows File Recovery also won&#8217;t restore original file names or folder structures when scanning formatted drives, so you&#8217;ll end up with generically named files that need sorting. And its file format support is much more limited compared to Disk Drill, especially when it comes to RAW photo formats and certain video types.<\/p>\r\n<p>Still, it&#8217;s free and comes straight from Microsoft, so it&#8217;s a legitimate fallback.<b> Here&#8217;s how to use it:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>Open the <b>Microsoft Store<\/b>, search for <b>Windows File Recovery<\/b>, and install it.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Connect your formatted SD card and note its drive letter (for example, E:).<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Open <b>Command Prompt<\/b> as administrator.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Run the following command, replacing the drive letters with your own:\r\n\r\n<pre>winfr E: D:\\Recovery \/extensive \/n *.jpg \/n *.mp4 \/n *.png \/n *.mov<\/pre>\r\n\r\nIn this example, E: is the SD card, D:\\Recovery is where recovered files will be saved, and the \/n flags specify which file types to look for. You can add more file types as needed.<img class=\"border-blue border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-58181 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/winfr-sd-card.png\" alt=\"WinFR SD card\" width=\"2464\" height=\"1386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/winfr-sd-card.png 2464w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/winfr-sd-card-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/winfr-sd-card-500x281.png 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/winfr-sd-card-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/winfr-sd-card-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/winfr-sd-card-2048x1152.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2464px) 100vw, 2464px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>When prompted, type <kbd>Y<\/kbd> to begin the recovery process.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Once the scan completes, check the destination folder for your recovered files.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-info\" role=\"alert\">&#x1f4a1; <b>Tip:<\/b> Always use \/extensive mode when recovering from a formatted SD card, as the regular mode only works reliably on NTFS drives with recently deleted files. For formatted FAT32 or exFAT cards (which most SD cards use), extensive mode is the only option that has a real chance of finding anything.<\/div>\r\n<p>For most users, <a href=\"#software-win\">Disk Drill<\/a> remains the better choice here. It offers a visual interface, previews before recovery, broader file format support, and its Advanced Camera Recovery module can reconstruct fragmented video files that command-line tools like winfr simply can&#8217;t handle. But if you want a zero-cost option and don&#8217;t mind working in the terminal, Windows File Recovery gets the job done for basic recoveries.<\/p>\r\n<h2 id=\"dd-macos\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"recovering_data_from_formatted_sd_cards_on_mac\"><\/span>Recovering Data from Formatted SD Cards on Mac<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p>Saving your files from a formatted SD card isn&#8217;t possible only on Windows PCs. If you&#8217;re on a Mac, you have a similar arsenal of options you can try out.<\/p>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_1_get_back_your_lost_data_from_a_formatted_sd_card_with_disk_drill\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 1:<\/span> <span id=\"software-mac\">Get Back Your Lost Data from a Formatted SD Card with Disk Drill<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>Disk Drill is one of the best solutions for getting your files back from a formatted SD card on a Mac. Start by downloading it <a href=\"\/\">from the official site<\/a> and installing it like any other app. Then, run it.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-success\" role=\"alert\">&#x1f453; You might also have to grant Disk Drill access rights to your storage devices to allow it to access and recover your data. The app will guide you through the process if needed.<\/div>\r\n<p><b>Follow these steps to scan your SD card and restore lost files with Disk Drill:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li><b>Choose your SD card<\/b> from Disk Drill&#8217;s main device list. Then, click on <b>Search for lost data<\/b> in the bottom right of its window. Disk Drill lets you choose between <b>Universal Scan<\/b> and <b>Advanced Camera Recovery<\/b>. If your SD card was used to record video (especially from a camera or drone), go with Advanced Camera Recovery, as it&#8217;s specifically built to find and reconstruct video files from camera media. For general file recovery like photos, documents, or mixed content, Universal Scan is your best bet.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49643 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-sd-card-for-scan-in-disk-drill.jpg\" alt=\"Disk Drill for Mac recovering files from a formatted SD card\" width=\"2636\" height=\"1654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-sd-card-for-scan-in-disk-drill.jpg 2636w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-sd-card-for-scan-in-disk-drill-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-sd-card-for-scan-in-disk-drill-500x314.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-sd-card-for-scan-in-disk-drill-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-sd-card-for-scan-in-disk-drill-1536x964.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-sd-card-for-scan-in-disk-drill-2048x1285.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2636px) 100vw, 2636px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Click on <b>Review found items<\/b> in the top-right corner to check what Disk Drill has already found. That said, giving Disk Drill enough time to complete its scan will maximize the chances of locating as many files as possible.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49648 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/review-found-items-on-sd-card.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Disk Drill scan in progress\" width=\"2636\" height=\"1654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/review-found-items-on-sd-card.jpg 2636w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/review-found-items-on-sd-card-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/review-found-items-on-sd-card-500x314.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/review-found-items-on-sd-card-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/review-found-items-on-sd-card-1536x964.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/review-found-items-on-sd-card-2048x1285.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2636px) 100vw, 2636px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Disk Drill can helpfully group found files by their type. By default, it will list <b>All files<\/b>, but you can narrow down the list from the group list on the left. You can <b>click on any file<\/b> to get more information about it. Disk Drill will also <b>show a preview<\/b> for popular file formats like text documents and images.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49645 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-photos-from-sd-card-in-disk-drill.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Disk Drill located files list\" width=\"2636\" height=\"1654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-photos-from-sd-card-in-disk-drill.jpg 2636w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-photos-from-sd-card-in-disk-drill-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-photos-from-sd-card-in-disk-drill-500x314.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-photos-from-sd-card-in-disk-drill-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-photos-from-sd-card-in-disk-drill-1536x964.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preview-photos-from-sd-card-in-disk-drill-2048x1285.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2636px) 100vw, 2636px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>When you locate the files you want to get back, <b>place a checkmark<\/b> on their left to mark them for recovery. Then, <b>click on Recover<\/b> in the bottom right of the Disk Drill window.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49653 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-photos-for-recover.jpg\" alt=\"Recovering photos from a formatted memory card on Mac\" width=\"2636\" height=\"1654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-photos-for-recover.jpg 2636w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-photos-for-recover-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-photos-for-recover-500x314.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-photos-for-recover-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-photos-for-recover-1536x964.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-photos-for-recover-2048x1285.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2636px) 100vw, 2636px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Disk Drill will ask you to <b>choose the destination<\/b> for your soon-to-be-recovered files. Follow along, and soon you&#8217;ll find them there.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49641 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-folder-for-files.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Disk Drill recovery target\" width=\"2636\" height=\"1654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-folder-for-files.jpg 2636w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-folder-for-files-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-folder-for-files-500x314.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-folder-for-files-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-folder-for-files-1536x964.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-recovery-folder-for-files-2048x1285.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2636px) 100vw, 2636px\" \/><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<div class=\"related_posts\"><div class=\"related_posts__inner\"><div class=\"h4\">Read also<\/div><div class=\"related_post\"><div class=\"related_post_item\"><div class=\"related_post_img\"><img src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/photo.png\" alt=\"recover deleted photos from sd card\" width=\"144\" height=\"144\" \/><\/div><div class=\"related_post_content\"><a target=\"_self\" href=\"\/howto\/recover-deleted-photos-sd-card.html\" class=\"related_post_link\">How to Recover Deleted Photos from SD Card<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"related_post\"><div class=\"related_post_item\"><div class=\"related_post_img\"><img src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Video-1.png\" alt=\"recover deleted videos from sd card\" width=\"134\" height=\"139\" \/><\/div><div class=\"related_post_content\"><a target=\"_self\" href=\"\/howto\/sd-video-recovery.html\" class=\"related_post_link\">SD Card Video Recovery<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"related_post\"><div class=\"related_post_item\"><div class=\"related_post_img\"><img src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Frame-66.png\" alt=\"recover data drom a dead usb\" width=\"140\" height=\"160\" \/><\/div><div class=\"related_post_content\"><a target=\"_self\" href=\"\/help\/sandisk-recovery-software.html\" class=\"related_post_link\">Sandisk SD Card Recovery<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"related_post\"><div class=\"related_post_item\"><div class=\"related_post_img\"><img src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Frame-65.png\" alt=\"micro SD\" width=\"140\" height=\"160\" \/><\/div><div class=\"related_post_content\"><a target=\"_self\" href=\"\/micro-sd-card-recovery.html\" class=\"related_post_link\">MicroSD Card Recovery<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n<h3 class=\"title_sc_bg\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"method_2_using_terminal_to_recover_lost_files_from_a_formatted_sd_card\"><\/span><span class=\"title_shortcode_bg\">Method 2:<\/span> <span id=\"photorec-mac\">Using Terminal to Recover Lost Files from a Formatted SD Card<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n<p>If you&#8217;d prefer a more hands-on way to get back your files from your formatted SD card on a Mac, you can use PhotoRec in the Terminal. The easiest way to get it set up is through Homebrew, which lets you install and run PhotoRec from any Terminal window without worrying about folder paths.<\/p>\r\n<p><b>Follow these steps to recover files using PhotoRec in Terminal:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>If you don&#8217;t already have Homebrew installed, open <b>Terminal<\/b> and paste the following command:\r\n\r\n<pre>\/bin\/bash -c \"$(curl -fsSL https:\/\/raw.githubusercontent.com\/Homebrew\/install\/HEAD\/install.sh)\"<\/pre>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Once Homebrew is ready, install TestDisk (which includes PhotoRec) by running:\r\n\r\n<pre>brew install testdisk<\/pre>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Now you can launch PhotoRec from any Terminal window by typing <code>sudo photorec<\/code> and pressing <kbd>Enter<\/kbd>.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><b>Choose your SD card<\/b> from PhotoRec&#8217;s list of media, using the cursor keys to highlight it. Then, with <b>Proceed<\/b> selected, <b>press <kbd>Enter<\/kbd><\/b> on the keyboard.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49656 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-in-photorec.jpg\" alt=\"Choose SD card in PhotoRec\" width=\"1448\" height=\"948\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-in-photorec.jpg 1448w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-in-photorec-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-in-photorec-500x327.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-sd-card-in-photorec-768x503.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1448px) 100vw, 1448px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>If PhotoRec detected an existing partition, <b>choose it<\/b> and <b>press <kbd>Enter<\/kbd> with Search highlighted<\/b> to analyze it for lost data. Alternatively, you can select <b>No partition<\/b> to have PhotoRec scan the whole device.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49652 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-partition-on-sd-card-for-scan.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Terminal PhotoRec select partition\" width=\"1448\" height=\"948\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-partition-on-sd-card-for-scan.jpg 1448w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-partition-on-sd-card-for-scan-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-partition-on-sd-card-for-scan-500x327.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-partition-on-sd-card-for-scan-768x503.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1448px) 100vw, 1448px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>PhotoRec will ask for the device&#8217;s file system. In most cases, you&#8217;ll probably want to choose <b>Other<\/b>.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49640 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-file-system-type-in-photorec.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Terminal PhotoRec choose file system\" width=\"1448\" height=\"948\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-file-system-type-in-photorec.jpg 1448w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-file-system-type-in-photorec-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-file-system-type-in-photorec-500x327.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/choose-file-system-type-in-photorec-768x503.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1448px) 100vw, 1448px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>You can have PhotoRec perform a partial or complete partition scan. Free is quicker but only scans the unallocated space. Whole is much slower but (usually) leads to extended results.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49657 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-space-for-scan-on-sd-card.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Terminal PhotoRec scan type\" width=\"1448\" height=\"948\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-space-for-scan-on-sd-card.jpg 1448w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-space-for-scan-on-sd-card-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-space-for-scan-on-sd-card-500x327.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-space-for-scan-on-sd-card-768x503.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1448px) 100vw, 1448px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>You&#8217;ll also have to choose the destination where PhotoRec will save any salvaged files. Use the <b>arrow keys<\/b> and <kbd>Enter<\/kbd> to navigate the file and folder list. Press <kbd>C<\/kbd> on the keyboard when you&#8217;re inside the desired destination folder.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49654 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-recovery-location-photorec.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Terminal PhotoRec destination\" width=\"1448\" height=\"948\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-recovery-location-photorec.jpg 1448w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-recovery-location-photorec-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-recovery-location-photorec-500x327.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/select-recovery-location-photorec-768x503.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1448px) 100vw, 1448px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Give PhotoRec some time to complete its scan. You can choose <b>Stop<\/b> to interrupt the scan, but the more time you allow it to run, the more files PhotoRec will find. Ideally, you should let it complete.<img class=\"border-gray border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-49646 size-full\" src=\"\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/recovery-process-in-photorec.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Terminal PhotoRec located files\" width=\"1448\" height=\"948\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/recovery-process-in-photorec.jpg 1448w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/recovery-process-in-photorec-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/recovery-process-in-photorec-500x327.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/recovery-process-in-photorec-768x503.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1448px) 100vw, 1448px\" \/><\/li>\r\n\t<li>When the process completes, PhotoRec will present a summary of the number of files and destination folder. Press <kbd>Enter<\/kbd> on the single preselected <b>Quit<\/b> option to exit the app. You&#8217;ll find all files PhotoRec recovered in the destination folder you selected.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<div class=\"alert alert-warning\" role=\"alert\">&#x1f4a1; <b>Note:<\/b> PhotoRec works well on heavily damaged or formatted SD cards, but since it recovers files by &#8220;carving&#8221; them directly from raw data, it can&#8217;t restore original file names or folder structures. What you&#8217;ll get is a batch of generically named files that you&#8217;ll need to sort through yourself. Because of that, PhotoRec is best used as a backup option when other recovery methods come up short.<\/div>\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_to_prevent_an_sd_card_from_becoming_formatted\"><\/span>How to Prevent an SD Card from Becoming Formatted<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p>Having an SD card appear as formatted means you have to recover your lost files, then check it for errors, then format it again to keep using it. It&#8217;s time-consuming and annoying. Thus, it&#8217;s better to minimize the chances of the problem appearing in the first place.<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>&#x274c; Never <b>abruptly pull out<\/b> your SD card from any device. Instead, select any available option to <b>detach<\/b> any removable media safely. Alternatively, you can <b>turn the device off<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f50b; Make sure the device where you&#8217;re using your SD card, like your camera, is <b>fully charged<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x26a1; Don&#8217;t keep using it until its battery&#8217;s power depletes.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f4be; Don&#8217;t agree to <b>format your SD card<\/b> when a device prompts you to do so. Especially if your SD card works fine on another device, like your PC. If you choose to format your SD card, first check that you&#8217;ve backed up all its contents elsewhere.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f468;&#x200d;&#x2695;&#xfe0f; When on your PC, use <b>antivirus and firewall apps<\/b> to keep malicious software and users at bay. <b>Never run untrusted apps<\/b> from unknown sources, which could end up corrupting your storage devices.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f525; Except for the occasional breeze, the elements aren&#8217;t friendly to your SD card. Avoid exposing it to <b>heat<\/b>, <b>dust<\/b>, or <b>water<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f4e6; Use <b>carrying cases<\/b> and never throw your SD card in your pocket among keys, coins, and other &#8220;stuff&#8221; that could get it <b>scratched<\/b>, <b>chipped<\/b>, or <b>bent<\/b>.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>&#x1f5d1;&#xfe0f; If there&#8217;s <b>visible wear<\/b>, your SD card&#8217;s many years old, or it has appeared as formatted or RAW again in the past, it&#8217;s time to replace it.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<p>As we saw, even if your SD card appears as formatted, there&#8217;s hope you can save your files from it. Even better, you might be able to &#8220;fix it&#8221; and keep using your SD card like before.<\/p>\r\n<p>Still, you should be vigilant, especially if the same SD card has failed again in the past. Don&#8217;t gamble with your precious files. At the slightest hint of imminent failure, back them up and order a new SD card as soon as possible.<\/p>\r\n<p>Thanks to nifty tools like Disk Drill, recovery might always be an option and feel like a piece of cake. However, avoiding it altogether is always the wiser course of action.<\/p>\r\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"faq\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<div><section itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/FAQPage\">\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq1\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq1\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq1\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\">How do you fix a micro SD card that won't format?<\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq1\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq1\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>If you&#8217;re dealing with a micro SD card that refuses to format, here are some solutions that might help:<\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li>Use a different computer to format the micro SD card.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Assign a different drive letter to the micro SD card.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Format the micro SD card using a third-party partition manager.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>Still no luck? Then the micro SD card might be damaged or severely corrupted.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq2\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq2\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq2\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"why_does_my_sd_card_need_formatting\"><\/span>Why does my SD card need formatting?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq2\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq2\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>Is your operating system telling you that your SD card needs to be formatted? In that case, it&#8217;s very likely that the SD card has become corrupted. If you have important data on it, DON&#8217;T format it. Instead, use data recovery software to retrieve your data and then fix the formatting issue.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq3\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq3\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq3\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"will_formatting_an_sd_card_delete_photos\"><\/span>Will formatting an SD card delete photos?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq3\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq3\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>Yes, when you format an SD card, you delete all files stored on it, including your photos. That said, the deleted photos will physically remain on the SD card until they are overwritten by new data, giving you a chance to recover them using special SD card recovery software.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 0px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq4\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq4\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq4\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"can_i_recover_files_from_a_formatted_sd_card_on_android_without_pc\"><\/span>Can I recover files from a formatted SD card on Android without PC?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq4\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq4\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>Yes, there are data recovery apps for Android that allow you to recover files from a formatted SD card without a computer. One such app is called DiskDigger, and you can find it on Google Play Store.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"border-bottom: 01px solid rgb(213, 217, 217);\" class=\"panel panel-default faq-block\" itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" role=\"tablist\">\r\n            <div class=\"panel-heading\" role=\"tab\" id=\"headingfaq5\">\r\n                <div class=\"panel-title\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <a class=\"toggle-link transition-all collapsed\" role=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-item-faq5\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse-item-faq5\"><h3 class=\"panel-title\">Can I recover files from a formatted SD card if I've already recorded new footage on it?<\/h3>                   \r\n                    \t<svg class=\"transition-all panel-toggle\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewBox=\"0 0 16 16\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\r\n                            <g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\r\n                                <path d=\"M7,7 L7,0 L9,0 L9,7 L16,7 L16,9 L9,9 L9,16 L7,16 L7,9 L0,9 L0,7 L7,7 Z\" fill=\"#000000\"><\/path>\r\n                            <\/g>\r\n                        <\/svg>\r\n                   <\/a>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            <div id=\"collapse-item-faq5\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-labelledby=\"headingfaq5\" aria-expanded=\"false\" style=\"\">\r\n              <div class=\"panel-body\" itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\r\n                <p>It depends. If the card was only quick-formatted, there&#8217;s still a chance of recovery even after shooting new footage. The most important factor is how much new data landed on the card and whether it overwrote the space where your old files were stored. Anything that gets overwritten is typically gone for good. That&#8217;s why you should stop using the card immediately and scan it as soon as you can. You may not get everything back, but files that weren&#8217;t overwritten often come through just fine.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n                <div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you type the phrase &#8220;recover formatted sd card&#8221; into Google, you get 18,700,000 results. That&#8217;s an awful lot of results for something so specific. Apparently, many people often manage to format their SD cards by accident and are desperate&#8230;","protected":false},"author":7882,"featured_media":40557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2634],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sd-card-flash-drive-recovery-tips"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>6 Steps to Recover Deleted Files from a Formatted SD Card<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Steps to Recover Deleted Files from a Formatted SD Card\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When you type the phrase &#8220;recover formatted sd card&#8221; into Google, you get 18,700,000 results. That&#8217;s an awful lot of results for something so specific. Apparently, many people often manage to format their SD cards by accident and are desperate...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Data recovery tips. Recover deleted files on Mac, Windows.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Disk-Drill-Windows-Choose-Destination.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1086\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"633\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Odysseas Kourafalos\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"6 Steps to Recover Deleted Files from a Formatted SD Card\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Disk-Drill-Windows-Choose-Destination.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ducklord\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Cleverfiles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Odysseas Kourafalos\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"17 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"6 Steps to Recover Deleted Files from a Formatted SD Card","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"6 Steps to Recover Deleted Files from a Formatted SD Card","og_description":"When you type the phrase &#8220;recover formatted sd card&#8221; into Google, you get 18,700,000 results. That&#8217;s an awful lot of results for something so specific. Apparently, many people often manage to format their SD cards by accident and are desperate...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html","og_site_name":"Data recovery tips. Recover deleted files on Mac, Windows.","og_image":[{"width":1086,"height":633,"url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Disk-Drill-Windows-Choose-Destination.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Odysseas Kourafalos","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"6 Steps to Recover Deleted Files from a Formatted SD Card","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Disk-Drill-Windows-Choose-Destination.jpg","twitter_creator":"@ducklord","twitter_site":"@Cleverfiles","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Odysseas Kourafalos","Est. reading time":"17 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html"},"author":{"name":"Odysseas Kourafalos","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/person\/265ce959a1a65ecb648cb8ec8840d025"},"headline":"How to Recover Formatted SD Card on Windows and Mac","datePublished":"2020-01-09T00:56:46+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-07T10:06:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html"},"wordCount":3903,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Disk-Drill-Windows-Choose-Destination.jpg","articleSection":["SD Card &amp; Flash Drive Recovery Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html","url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html","name":"6 Steps to Recover Deleted Files from a Formatted SD Card","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Disk-Drill-Windows-Choose-Destination.jpg","datePublished":"2020-01-09T00:56:46+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-07T10:06:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Disk-Drill-Windows-Choose-Destination.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Disk-Drill-Windows-Choose-Destination.jpg","width":1086,"height":633,"caption":"Disk Drill Windows Choose Destination"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/recover-formatted-sd.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f","item":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Recover Formatted SD Card on Windows and Mac"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/","name":"Data recovery tips. Recover deleted files on Mac, Windows.","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#organization","name":"CleverFiles","url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/dd-mac-1024-flat.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/dd-mac-1024-flat.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"CleverFiles"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/Cleverfiles"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/person\/265ce959a1a65ecb648cb8ec8840d025","name":"Odysseas Kourafalos","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/650319c30d8542b16a13a51decb4bc14fc074d0f53430abdbc5482a7cb74fc2e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/650319c30d8542b16a13a51decb4bc14fc074d0f53430abdbc5482a7cb74fc2e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Odysseas Kourafalos"},"description":"Odysseas Kourafalos has been writing about computers and technology for over two decades. He specializes in software and has produced thousands of articles, from tutorials on Linux to mini-books about gaming console modifications. His journey in tech began with a Commodore 64, which he almost immediately short-circuited attempting \"to cheat in a game\". It was soon replaced by a Commodore 128, which in time gave way to an Amiga. When the era of Home Computing came to an end, he moved - with the times - to PCs. He's lost vast amounts of data on MS-DOS, then Windows, as well as various Linux distributions. \"Data\" stored on media ranging from ancient 5.25'' floppies to modern SSDs. Since joining us, he's losing his data on purpose. His work has been published on major Greek magazines, like Computer For All and PC World, popular tech sites - among which Make Tech Easier and Make Use Of, as well as countless blogs, like CyberPunks and VapoSearch. He loves gaming, is a huge movie buff, and identifies as a true geek.","sameAs":["kourafalos","https:\/\/x.com\/ducklord"],"url":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/author\/odysseas-kourafalos\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7882"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8410"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58232,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions\/58232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/howto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}