Photos & RAW · exFAT media card
PNG still images: recover after a quick format
Can deleted PNG stills be recovered after a quick format?
Short answer
Often yes, as long as nothing new was saved: a quick format writes fresh file-system records but leaves older PNG blocks until they are overwritten. Eject the card without a test save. A read-only scan can then find PNG signatures, and the chunk checksums show which stills survived intact.
The situation
The medium now has a new empty directory, while the previous deleted PNG stills is missing.
A quick format writes a fresh, empty directory and allocation table; it does not clear what was recorded. The card therefore reports itself as empty while older image blocks are still present, waiting to be located by signature rather than by file name.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
Formatting in the camera or in the operating system replaced the exFAT structures that named each still. The pictures themselves were never wiped, because a quick format only lays down new administrative records. What is lost is the link between name and blocks, which is why stills found after a format usually come back numbered rather than under their old names.
A quick format can replace file-system records without immediately overwriting every older content block. For PNG still images, this matters because PNG uses chunk lengths and CRCs that allow a stricter structural check than a filename alone.
Check the last known path, trash and backups without writing to the original device.
02 / Protect the source
Preserve the best recovery chance
- 1
Eject the freshly formatted card and set it aside; do not fire a test frame just to see whether the camera works again.
- 2
Write down what the card held before the format: roughly how many stills, at which dimensions, and which device recorded them.
- 3
Scan the card read-only through a reader and search for PNG signatures instead of file names, since the old names went with the directory.
- 4
Export the found stills to another drive, open each one and rename the keepers yourself, because a formatted directory gives no names back.
Do not format again, do not let a camera create a new folder structure on the card and do not copy anything onto it. Every one of those writes lands in the space the previous records pointed at and can destroy the image data underneath.
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.
File names, folder layout and shooting order went with the formatted directory, and no scan restores them. File Recovery Hero reads the exFAT card without writing to it and exports once licensed, but it cannot rebuild a still whose data is already covered.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
Judge each recovered still by its content, not by the file list: the picture has to decode from the first row to the last and match the dimensions the device produces. A file that ends in a grey block was partly overwritten before the scan ever reached it.
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 exFAT media card be recovered in this situation?+
A quick format writes a fresh, empty directory and allocation table; it does not clear what was recorded. The card therefore reports itself as empty while older image blocks are still present, waiting to be located by signature rather than by file name. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not format again, do not let a camera create a new folder structure on the card and do not copy anything onto it.
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?+
Judge each recovered still by its content, not by the file list: the picture has to decode from the first row to the last and match the dimensions the device produces.