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“Hi, how to unformat a hard drive which is erased by Disk Utility. I formatted my hard drive by mistake, want to find a software to unformat the hard drive on my MacBook, recover my lost documents, videos, images, etc. Any recommendation?”

Formatting is a process that will erase all data stored on the hard drive and rebuild a file system on the drive. Most of computer users think that the data which is erased from the hard drive is lost forever. Actually, it is not true. Whether you format the hard drive by using Mac Disk Utility or a third-party disk formatting tool, the formatted data is not really gone. With a right data recovery program, you can unformat the Mac hard drive and quickly get all lost data back.

You must remember, the earlier you unformat the Mac hard drive, the better chance you will get for recovering the lost files. Before new data completely overwrites the disk space of the formatted data, you can easily unformat the Mac hard drive/HDD/SSD/USB Drive/Memory card and get all lost data back.

unformat Mac hard drive with Time Machine

Here are three methods to help you unformat Mac startup disk, HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, SD card, etc.

Method 1: Unformat Mac hard drive with DIY data recovery software

Do Your Data Recovery for Mac is a reliable Mac unformat software. With this software you can recover formatted data from your Mac local disk, external HDD/SSD, USB flash drive, memory card, digital camera, etc.

Do Your Data Recovery for Mac

  • Recover lost data due to erasing Mac hard drive using Disk Utility or formatted a drive using third-party disk formatting software.
  • Unformat a APFS/NTFS/HFS/ExFAT/FAT 32 drive.
  • Completely recover all lost files and erased files back.

Do Your Data Recovery also supports to recover permanently deleted files on Mac or recover deleted partition. It is a complete DIY data recovery tool, follow these steps to unformat Mac hard drive.

Step 1. Download and install Do Your Data Recovery for Mac, then open it from Launchpad. Make sure the connected hard drive is connected to your Mac.

unformat Mac hard drive

Step 2. Open Do Your Data Recovery for Mac, just select the formatted hard drive to start data recovery. Click on Scan button.

unformat Mac hard drive

Step 3. Once the scan is completed, you can preview all recoverable files. Then select the wanted files and save them to a location.

unformat Mac hard drive


Method 2. Recover Formatted Mac Hard Drive From Time Machine Backup

If you have backed up your Mac with Time Machine app and there is a backup contains the lost files of the formatted hard drive, you can enter into Time Machine backup and restore the lost files.

Step 1. Open the location where you lose your files, if you want to restore files which are deleted from desktop, you don’t need to open a window.

Step 2. Go to Launchpad > Other > Time Machine, open Time Machine. Connect the Time Machine backup drive to your Mac.

Step 3. Browse the backups, then find the files you want to restore, then select them. Click on Restore button.

unformat Mac hard drive with Time Machine

If you want to restore the entire Mac hard drive with Time Machine, just boot your Mac into macOS Recovery mode, then select Options, click on Continue button. Select Restore from Time Machine.

unformat Mac hard drive with Time Machine

Method 3. Unformat Mac Hard Drive with Data Recovery Service

If the two methods listed above can not help you unformat the hard drive, just send your hard drive to a data recovery service store. The data recovery expert can help you check the formatted hard drive and find the files that can be restored.

Unformat Mac Hard Drive FAQs

1. Is it possible to recover formatted hard drive on Mac?

Yes. Formatting Mac hard drive can't permanently erase the files, just make the files be hidden on the hard drive. The right Mac unformat software can help you completely unformat Mac hard drive and get your lost files back. After formatting your Mac hard drive, all the files are removed from your Mac, you can't see or find them because some information of them is deleted. You need the Mac unformat software to help you scan the formatted hard drive and discover the lost files.

You have known that you'd better unformat Mac hard drive as soon as possible to recover lost files. But first of all, you need to find the right Mac unformat software. Do Your Data Recovery for Mac must be a good choice for unformatting Mac hard drive for you.

It will unformat your Mac hard drive and recover lost photos, emails, videos, documents, archives, and other lost files within a short time.

2. How to unformat hard drive for free on Mac?

There are two solutions:

  • If you have a backup of the formatted hard drive, just restore the lost files from the backup.
  • Download free Mac data recovery software to scan the formatted hard drive. It can recover 1GB files for free.

3. Can I recover lost data from the startup disk which is erased by Disk Utility?

Yes, Do Your Data Recovery for Mac is able to scan the Mac-based hard drive and find all recoverable files. Even it has been erased by Disk Utility, the lost files still can be recovered by this Mac unformat software.

4. How to wipe a Mac hard drive to make data recovery be impossible?

To make files be unrecoverable, you can use professional data erasure program to help you wipe the Mac hard drive and permanently erase all data. Once your data is erased by data erasure program, the erased data is gone forever, can not be recovered by any data recovery software.

5. How to fix corrupted hard drive on Mac?

Open Disk Utility and find the corrupted hard drive, then select it, click First Aid button. It will help you fix the corrupted hard drive on Mac.

repair damaged hard drive on Mac

Conclusion

It is easy to unformat a Mac hard drive with Do Your Data Recovery for Mac. It scans the formatted HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, memory card and find all recoverable files. Just select the wanted files and save them. Don’t use your hard drive before getting all formatted files back since new files will overwrite the disk space of the lost files - that will make data recovery be impossible.

DoYourData Author

Written & Updated by Justin Kenny

Justin Kenny is a writer & editor of DoYourData. He joined DoYourData in 2016 and focuses on writing articles about Windows data recovery, Mac data recovery, external device data recovery, hard drive clone, data erasure, Mac cleanup, computer issue fixes, etc. He is a super fan of Apple devices and is big on testing new digital device and system utility software.

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