Recover Videos from Formatted Micro SD Card in 5 Ways Easily

When you format your micro SD card accidentally, but there are important videos that you haven't backed up, how can you recover the videos from the formatted micro SD card? Maybe you think it is a disaster, but luckily, you can get a chance to regain your videos because formatting doesn't immediately erase data permanently. Thus, stop using the memory card right now, and recover your videos with the following methods.

Part 1: How to Recover Videos from Formatted SD Card via Coolmuster Data Recovery

As long as you have a computer, you can connect your SD card to the PC and then use Coolmuster Data Recovery to get your lost videos back. This desktop app can scan your memory card, and locate your formatted files. As long as there is no data overwrite your videos, you will succeed in recovering the files.

Key features of Coolmuster Data Recovery:

• Recover lost files from external memory cards.
• The Formatted Recovery mode can scan your formatted micro SD card and locate lost videos.
• Allow you to recover photos, audio files, documents, and more.
• List your files by file type or file location for swift positioning.
• Support the data recovery of external hard drives, USB drives, and other storage devices.

Pros:

• Very user-friendly.
• High success rate for formatted storage devices.
• Allow previewing files before recovery.

Cons:

• Can be slower on high-capacity cards.
• Requires a paid license for full recovery.

Download Coolmuster Data Recovery.

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Here's how to recover lost videos from a formatted SD card:

You can watch the video guide to recover your videos:

Part 2: How to Recover Videos from Formatted Micro SD Card via TestDisk

TestDisk is a useful, open-source recovery tool for SD cards. It is text-based, which may be challenging for beginners, so it requires careful navigation.

To retrieve videos from a formatted micro SD card via TestDisk:

Step 1: Run the program and select "Create" to start a new log file. Then highlight your micro SD card from the list and select "Proceed".

Step 2: The software automatically detects this (often "Intel" or "EFI GPT"). Press "Enter".

Step 3: Select "Advanced", choose your partition, and select the "Undelete" (for FAT/NTFS) or "List" option.

Step 4: Navigate to the deleted videos (often highlighted in red), press "C" to copy the selected file, and choose a destination on your PC to paste it.

Pros:

• Extremely powerful for fixing partition tables.
• Free and open-source.
• Works on almost any OS.

Cons:

• No graphical interface (command-line only).
• Not easy to use.
• Easy to make mistakes if unfamiliar.

Part 3: How to Recover Lost Videos from Formatted SD Card via Recuva

Recuva is widely popular for its simplicity and effective "Deep Scan" feature for formatted media. If the free version doesn't find your video files, you can upgrade to the pro one.

Recover lost videos from a formatted SD card via Recuva:

Step 1: Open Recuva and select "Videos" as the file type you are looking for.

Step 2: Choose "On my media card or iPod" or manually browse to the SD card's drive letter.

Step 3: Before clicking "Start", check the box for "Enable Deep Scan". This is essential for formatted cards as it searches for file headers.

Step 4: Once the scan is complete, mark the checkboxes next to your videos. Click "Recover" and pick a secure folder on your desktop.

Pros:

• Simple "Wizard" mode for beginners.
• Deep Scan is very effective for formatted media.
• Free version available.

Cons:

• Windows only.
• The free version lacks advanced support.
• Can struggle with heavily corrupted file systems.

Part 4: How to Recover Videos from Formatted SD Card via PhotoRec

PhotoRec is a companion to TestDisk that ignores the file system and goes after the underlying data, making it highly effective for formatted or corrupted cards. Besides, note that filenames might be lost; you will need to check the recovered .mp4 or .mov files manually.

Here's how:

Step 1: Open photorec_win.exe on your PC, select your SD card, and press "Enter".

Step 2: Select the main partition and choose "Search". Next, tap "Other" (for FAT32/exFAT/ext) unless you are on a Linux-specific format.

Step 3: Choose a folder on your computer where the recovered files will be dumped. The program will scan every sector of the card.

Pros:

• Ignores file systems to find raw data.
• Highly effective for "unreadable" cards.
• Completely free.

Cons:

• Recovers files without their original names.
• Text-heavy interface.
• Can take a long time to scan.

Part 5: How to Retrieve Videos from Formatted SD Card via CMD

Using the Command Prompt (CMD) is a built-in Windows method. While it cannot "undelete" data like the tools above, it can fix attribute issues that make files invisible after a quick format.

To restore videos from a formatted memory card via CMD:

Step 1: Insert your SD card into your computer. Then press "Win + R", type "cmd", and hit "Enter" on your Windows computer.

Step 2: Type the following command: chkdsk X: /f. Then replace "X" with your SD card drive letter.

Step 3: Then run: attrib -h -r -s /s /d X:\*.*. Remember to replace "X" with the correct letter.

Step 4: This command removes "hidden", "read-only", and "system" attributes. If the format was a "Quick Format" that merely hid the directory structure, your files may reappear in a new folder on the card.

Pros:

• No software installation required.
• Built into Windows.
• Very fast execution.

Cons:

• Cannot recover deleted or overwritten data.
• Only works if files are hidden or marked as "system" files.

Conclusion

Data loss is a stressful experience, but tools ranging from the simple Recuva wizard to the robust PhotoRec engine and professional Coolmuster Data Recovery provide a high success rate for video recovery. Always remember the golden rule of data recovery: never save recovered files back onto the same SD card until you are certain the recovery process is finished.

Free Download for PC

 

Free Download for Mac

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