Video Recovery: How to Recover Formatted Video Files

Quick and brief steps to recover video files:

Step 1. Launch the Qiling video recovery program on your PC.

Step 2. Locate the drive that is to be scanned for deleted/lost videos and click the "Scan" button.

Step 3. Preview and recover video files.

What Is Formatting

Formatting is a process of preparing a data storage device such as a hard disk drive, SSD, USB flash drive, or SD card for initial use.

Generally, your device will be formatted in the following three situations:

Your device is infected by a virus.
Your storage device behaves abnormal and cannot be used for data storage.
Unintentional operations.

What to Do When Lost Video Files

Case: "Formatted my Canon SD card because I cannot access it. The bad news is all my videos and pictures are gone. Is there any possibility to restore my Canon videos and pictures? Really need help."

Almost everyone has had a bad experience of losing precious videos, photos, and files due to unexpected disasters. Accidental deletion, formatting, misoperation, and system crash are the main causes. But, what can you do if you lose data?

Data loss is pretty common in daily life. Anyone can encounter a data loss situation. The easiest way to get out of this situation is to recover your lost files. After formatting an SD card or other devices, the device will show up as empty and all data on it will become invisible. But, the files are not gone until you add new items to the device. That is to say, if you don't add any new items to your device after you format it, your files remain intact. And, you can get these files back.

 Important

Make sure no application writes to the drive or partition since every new file (even a small one) may overwrite the deleted file.

Do not open or close files and applications on the problematic partition, as many applications create temporary files which may overwrite and corrupt your formatted files.

Here are two ways to get back formatted videos.

Method 1. Retrieve Videos with Free Video Recovery Software

If you don't have much computer or CMD knowledge, the best choice is using a free tool. Qiling free file recovery software is the first program you should try. This easy-to-use software can bring back lost data in three simple steps. Whether you emptied the recycle bin, formatted the SD card, or deleted files, you can always restore your data with ease using this software.

Software features:

Supported file types: AVI, MOV, MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, MKV, ASF, FLV, SWF, MPG, RM/RMVB, MPEG, etc. (More than 1000)
Supported devices: USB, SSD, PC/laptop, CF/SD card, digital camera, hard drive, etc.
Supported file system: FAT(FAT12,FAT16,FAT32), exFAT, NTFS, ext2/ext3, HFS+, ReFS.
Supported OS: Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP, Windows Server 2003 -2019.

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Step 1. Run Deep Data Recovery and select the file types. Click "Next" to start.

Select file types that you want to recover

Step 2. Run Deep Data Recovery and select the location or device where you lost/deleted videos. Click "Scan" to find the missing videos.

Step 3. After the scan, choose "Videos" in the left panel. Go to "Lost" or "All" to find the wanted videos. Select the found videos and click "Preview".

Step 4. Select the video files that you want to restore. Click "Recover" to save them to another secure location on your PC or external storage device.

Consult with Qiling data recovery experts for one-on-one manual recovery service. We could offer the following services after FREE diagnosis

Repair corrupted RAID structure, unbootable Windows OS, and corrupted virtual disk file
Recover/repair lost partition and re-partitioned drive
Unformat hard drive and repair raw drive(Bitlocker encrypted drive)
Fix disks that become GPT protected partitions

Method 2. Video Recovery Using CMD After Formatting

If you are familiar with CMD, you can recover the deleted files with chkdsk. (Here, we'll use an SD card for the example.)

Step 1: Connect your SD card to your computer via a card reader. Check the drive letter of your SD card via Computer or Disk Management.

Step 2: Type cmd in the search box on the start menu, right-click it and select Run as administrator.

Step 3: Type the following command - attrib -h -r -s G:\*.* /s /d in the Command Prompt window and hit "Enter". (This command only helps display hidden files.)

Extra Tips for Data Protection (Bonus)

If you have added new data to the device, what can you do? Your old items will be overwritten and your files will be gone. What's worse, recovery is impossible. You need to take other actions. Backup can be one of the best ways to prevent data loss. You just need free backup software. Qiling Backup is the one.

With the help of it, you can select what you want to backup - your entire system, a disk, a partition, or particular folders.

To back up files with this free Windows backup and recovery software, you just need to download it and then follow the instructions given below:

Step 1. Click the "File backup" button to start backup.

Step 3. Both local and network files will be listed on the list view. You can expand the directory to select the files to be backed up.

Step 3. Follow the on-screen guide, select the destination where you want to save the backup.

Click "Options" to encrypt the backup with password in "Backup Options". There are also many other options you can explore, customize the backup task according to your need.

Click "Schedule" to set the backup schedule and choose to start back up at certain event in "Backup Scheme".

Step 4. You can store the backup to local drive, Qiling's cloud service, and NAS.

Step 5. Qiling Backup enables users to back up data to both third-party cloud drive and its own cloud drive.

If you want to back up data to third-party cloud drive, choose Local Drive, scroll down to add Cloud Device, add and login your account.

Step 6. Click "Proceed" to start backup. After the backup task is completed, it will be displayed in the form of a card on the left side of the panel. Right-click the backup task to further manage it.

To restore the backups, you just need to follow this guide:

How to restore images with Qiling Backup

Video Recovery FAQs

Let's take a look at three topics that the users are most concerned about with regard to video recovery:

1. How do I recover a deleted video?

For video recovery, Qiling data recovery software can help you with simple steps:

Step 1. Run Deep Data Recovery, select the location and click "Scan".

Step 2. Choose "Videos" in the "Filter". Preview found videos.

Step 3. Click "Recover" to restore video files.

2. What is the best video recovery app?

Qiling free video recovery software is able to recover lost, deleted, and formatted video files. You can download the video recovery software for free on Windows 10/8/7. You can use this video recovery program to restore lost video files from HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, pen drive, external hard drive, and more.

3. Can I get back deleted videos on my phone?

You can restore your deleted or lost video from iPhone and Android devices with professional video recovery software. Qiling MobiSaver Free helps recover contacts, messages, photos, videos, notes, and other content on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
Qiling Deep data recovery for Android Free enables you to recover all lost files, including messages, contacts, photos, music, and videos easily.