Formatted Memory Card Recovery

Recover data from formatted memory card

Formatting is something that is not only applicable to hard drives, but is also equally applicable to memory cards. We usually perform formatting on a memory card, when we want to get rid of all the files in the memory card, and reclaim empty disk space. There are also instances when we format the memory card, when it is corrupted, and the data in the memory card is inaccessible. No matter what the reason is for formatting the memory card, the data on your memory card can be recovered, provided you take some precautions and use a good data recovery software.

 

This does not mean that you should avoid formatting your memory card completely. Formatting is necessary, and is very helpful in some cases, but it is just that you need to take certain precautions before formatting your memory card. The data on your memory card is stored in the form of various files which occupy a specified memory location. When you format the memory card, the disk space occupied by the data gets marked as available by the operating system. This disk space can now be overwritten by new data, resulting in loss of data that previously existed on the memory card.

 

Once overwritten, the data that has been lost cannot be recovered. You should therefore ensure that you stop using the memory card immediately, and make use of a data recovery software before new data gets written onto the memory card. It is also important to make use of a proficient data recovery software to ensure complete recovery of lost data. Recover Memory Card software for Mac is a professional photo recovery software which can recover memory card data with ease. This software can also perform flash memory card JPEG file recovery with ease. This software can recover media files in over 45 formats from various storage media. It can restore images from SD flash card, CF cards, MMC, XD cards etc.

 

 

 

You can follow the steps given below, to successfully to perform formatted memory card recovery from the digital camera.

 

Step 1: Remove the memory card from the camera, and connect it to a healthy PC where the software has already been installed. Launch Memory Card Recovery software - Mac Version, by selecting it from the application folder. The main window pops up as shown in Figure 1.

 

Figure 1: Main Window

Step 2: The local and the external drives that are detected, are displayed as shown in the figure. Select the memory card that you connected, and click the "Next" button to proceed to the next step, as shown in Figure 2.

 

Figure 2: Select Drive

 

Step 3: On clicking the "Next" button, a new window pops up, as shown Figure 3. The various types of photo files, audio files, and video files are displayed, as shown in the figure below. You can select specifically, the file types you wish to recover, or select all the file types, if you wish to recover all the media files, based on your requirement.

 

Figure 3: Select File Type

 

Note: By default, all the photo, audio and video files are selected for recovery. You can disable this feature, by clicking the "Deselect all" button.

 

Step 4: After selecting the file types, click the "Recover" button, to start the recovery process. A new window displays, the progress made in the recovery process, and also lists the number of files that have been found, as shown in Figure 4.

 

Figure 4: Progress Bar

 

You can use the "Show selected file types" option, to display the file types you selected in the previous step.

 

Step 5: Once the scanning process is completed, the recovered media files are grouped together and listed in their respective folders as shown in Figure 5. Clicking any of the folder displays, the recovered files of the respective file type, under that folder, as shown in the figure.

 

Figure 5: Found Files and Folders