Stop using the card or USB drive
Remove an SD card from the camera rather than taking more photos. Do not copy new files to a USB drive with missing data. If Windows asks to format it, cancel that prompt. Formatting is not a prerequisite for recovery.
Check whether Windows can see the device
Check the reader, cable, and USB connection. In Disk Management, identify the device by its capacity and model; do not initialize it, create a partition, or accept a repair just to give it a drive letter.
If the device repeatedly disconnects, shows zero or clearly incorrect capacity, or becomes unusually hot, stop repeated scans. Software cannot scan a device that is not providing readable storage. Valuable data on an unstable device warrants specialist assessment.
Scan readable storage and inspect the candidates
With FileUpGo installed on your computer’s separate drive, connect the source device and select the matching volume. Make sure you recognize its capacity before starting. Use file types and names to narrow the results.
A readable device may still have damaged folder records. Reconstructed files can have generated names and lose their original directory. Do not assume every result is deleted: existing files can also appear. If no readable source is listed, do not format the device to force it to appear.
Save elsewhere and check full files
Save recovered files to the computer’s drive or another separate device, never to the source card or USB drive. For photos, inspect the whole image, not just an embedded thumbnail. For videos, play multiple sections and check the duration.
Fragmented files may be incomplete when allocation chains have been lost. A correct size, preview image, or familiar extension is not enough to confirm that the original content was recovered.
If the device has already been formatted
Stop using it immediately. Recovery depends on what the format changed and whether old content remains readable. A quick format does not guarantee success; overwriting or erasing the data can make recovery impossible.
Check any camera imports, original computer copies, or other backups before paying for recovery. These steps describe how to assess the situation, not a claim that every formatted USB drive or SD card is recoverable.