How to Recover Data on a FAT File System?

What’s FAT? 

FAT is a popular computer file system used in DOS and Windows. It is also commonly found on floppy disks, memory cards, digital cameras and many other portable devices. Files on a FAT system have “directory entry”. This is the place which stores the information of the file. This information is stored completely separate from the file data, Therefore, although the file was deleted, the file information still be there, and FAT data recovery becomes possible.

Lost data on FAT file system often occur in the digital life, and the following are some typical cases:

Reasons of losing data on FAT file system:

1.       System or software malfunction

2.       File system damage

3.       File/directory deletion

4.       Cross linked files

5.       Virus infection, Power Surges

6.       Human errors, Sabotage

7.       Incomplete or unsuccessful repartitioning of hard drive

8.       Boot sector corruption, unexpected shutdown

9.       Accidental format, hard drive formatting

10.   Partition corruption and Partition resizing

11.   MBR (Master Boot Record) damage

How to recover data on a FAT file system

>> 1. Lost file in Windows

1. If you have lost files in Windows, firstly, make sure your file is lost permanently or not. Double-check the folder you thought the file located in. Check your desktop and “My Documents” folders. Or in the “Start” menu, go to the search option and type the name of the file to see if it is still in the hard drive or not.

2. If you can’t find the file in the first step, go to see the recycle bin, Use “restore” option to retrieve file if the lost file is there. If not, you have to use the third party FAT recovery software. Once you attempt to recover data from hard drive, you had better connect the hard drive to another computer as a slave drive in case deleted files are overwritten during the recovery progress. And we advice you install the FAT data recovery program on floppy disk or CD.

3. You can also go to professional data recovery service for help. However, it will be much expensive than recover it by yourself.

>>2. Lost data in other devices with FAT file system (memory card, floppy disk, digital camera, etc.)

Not as lucky as losing data in Windows, if you have lost data in other devices like digital camera, floppy disk, there is no built-in recycle bin, you have to recover data with FAT recovery program. Card Data Recovery is the comprehensive data recovery program that supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 file system. It features on extremely easy interface and powerful functions. Only three Step1, you can get back data on FAT file system devices.
Step1. Download Card Data Recovery and install it on PC
Step2. Connect the device to PC, when it is detected by the PC, Select it and check the file system type and then click “scan”
Step3. In the task list, select the file and click “recover” to start recovery, you can also preview the file before recovery.