Recovery methods · IMG, DD, RAW or BIN image
sector-by-sector disk image: use after formatting
How does sector-by-sector disk image help after a quick format?
Short answer
Usually by freezing the formatted card before anything else writes to it. After a quick format, older recordings still sit in unallocated areas, and an uncompressed image copies every sector, including those. You can then scan the image repeatedly while the card stays in a drawer, instead of risking new writes from a camera or computer.
The situation
Old folders are gone while the newly formatted source appears ready to use.
After a quick format the card is in a state that every further use degrades. An image copies that state into a file within one pass, and from then on the analysis happens on the copy. The card can be locked away instead of being scanned again and again.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
A quick format leaves the payload area untouched while replacing the structures that point into it, so the data is present but unlisted. Since a sector-level copy ignores directories entirely, it takes those unlisted areas along. The risk is time: any camera or computer that writes to the formatted card reduces what an image can still preserve.
New file-system records and older payload blocks can coexist until later writes reuse them. For sector-by-sector disk image, this matters because an uncompressed image freezes the source state for repeatable analysis
Check the last known path, trash and backups without writing to the original device.
02 / Protect the source
Preserve the best recovery chance
- 1
Remove the card from the camera immediately and treat imaging as the first action, before any scan and before any trial recovery.
- 2
Prepare a destination drive with free space for the entire card capacity, and confirm which of the two devices is the card.
- 3
Run one uncompressed sector copy across the whole medium, letting it read past the empty new directory to the end of the card.
- 4
Put the card away once the image exists, and run every scan and export against the image file from now on.
Do not let the operating system mount and index the formatted card before imaging, and do not skip unreadable regions to finish faster. Indexing writes, and skipped regions become gaps in the image that later look like blank space instead of missing data.
03 / Choose the method
Match the tool to the source
For stable, readable exFAT, NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 or uncompressed IMG, DD, RAW and BIN images.
Unconfirmed exports are marked .UNVERIFIED.
An image preserves the current state; it cannot restore what the format-and-reuse cycle already overwrote. File Recovery Hero scans uncompressed images of exFAT, NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 volumes, and an image of an APFS or ext4 medium is outside what it can interpret.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
A good image of a formatted card is not empty: its size matches full capacity, and a scan of it finds recognisable file starts in the region the fresh directory declares as free. If the image only shows the new empty structure, the format was more than a quick one.
Keep the source until two verified copies exist. One working preview is not enough.
Sources and technical references
FAQ
Questions about this recovery case
Can IMG, DD, RAW or BIN image be recovered in this situation?+
After a quick format the card is in a state that every further use degrades. An image copies that state into a file within one pass, and from then on the analysis happens on the copy. The card can be locked away instead of being scanned again and again. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not let the operating system mount and index the formatted card before imaging, and do not skip unreadable regions to finish faster.
Does scanning write to my memory card?+
Your memory card is only read. Nothing is saved to it.
How do I know whether the result is complete?+
A good image of a formatted card is not empty: its size matches full capacity, and a scan of it finds recognisable file starts in the region the fresh directory declares as free.