Recovering a hard drive after accidentally formatting it can be a stressful situation, but there are several steps you can take to attempt to retrieve your lost data. However, it's important to note that the success of data recovery depends on various factors, including the type of formatting done, the amount of data written to the drive since formatting, and the state of the hard drive itself. Here's a guide on how to recover a formatted hard drive:

Stop Using the Drive Immediately:

The first and most crucial step is to stop using the formatted hard drive immediately. Any further writing to the drive can overwrite the data you're trying to recover, making it impossible to retrieve.

Backup Existing Data (If Possible):

If you have any important data on other drives or devices, create a backup immediately. This will ensure that you don't lose any more data while attempting to recover the formatted drive.

Use Data Recovery Software:

There are various data recovery software tools available that can scan your formatted hard drive and attempt to recover lost files.The following is an example of panda data recovery operation.

Steps to recover from formatted by mistake:

Step 1: Select the recovery mode

Select "Formatted Recovery", which can help us to retrieve the files before formatting to the greatest extent, and click to enter the recovery stage.

Step 2: Select the formatted disk

Select the formatted disk, if it is a USB flash drive or other mobile device, then you need to connect the computer in advance, then select the corresponding disk, and click Scan.

Step 3: Select the file system before formatting the partition

After clicking Start Scan, a pop-up window will pop up, let's select the file system before partition formatting, what do you think about the former file system? 

Right-click the properties → disk to view them. If it is a USB flash drive, then you can see the attributes of the USB flash drive by right-clicking.

Step 4: Format the scan

The scanning phase takes a little time, and you need to be patient for a while, if you click to stop scanning halfway, it may cause the file to be scanned incompletely, and some files will be missed.

Step 5: Find the file

You can filter by file type, you can search for files or folders, you can also click on filter, there is a status option, click on it. 

You can choose between lost files and normal files, isn't it very useful!

Step 6: Preview the file 

After finding the file, we can double-click the file to preview the situation, if the file can be previewed normally, then it can be recovered, if the preview fails, then there are two possibilities, one file has been damaged, and the other file does not support preview.

Step 7: Recover files

After the preview is successful, how to recover it? That's too simple, check the file and click Recover, set the export path, it should be noted that do not restore the data to the partition where it is, so as not to overwrite other data.

Consider Professional Help:

If you're unable to recover your data using software tools, you may need to consider professional data recovery services. These services have specialized equipment and expertise to handle more complex data recovery cases.

• Research reputable data recovery companies in your area or online.
• Contact the company and provide details about your situation, including the type of formatting done and the state of the hard drive.
• Arrange for the company to examine and recover data from your formatted hard drive.

Prevent Future Data Loss:

Once you've recovered your data, it's essential to take steps to prevent future data loss. Here are some tips:

• Regularly backup your important data to external drives, cloud storage, or other reliable locations.
• Use reliable and updated antivirus software to protect your system from malware that can corrupt or delete files.
• Be cautious when formatting drives or deleting files, and always double-check your actions before confirming.

Remember, data recovery is not always guaranteed, and the success rate depends on various factors. The sooner you take action after formatting, the higher your chances of recovering lost data.