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I was trying to format a USB stick, but accidentally typed the wrong disk in terminal:

diskutil eraseDisk /dev/disk_etc

I instantly stopped the process but it was too late - name had changed and it was already showing 2/2TB free on my SSD. I have yet to do anything to my SSD: no file transfers, no removals, unmounted.

Is there any way software-wise to not just recover files piece by piece, but the entire layout of the SSD folders and all? The software I have used so far just finds "Images", "Movies" etc., without the actual layout.

I am hoping this is possible purely due to the brevity of the formatting that occurred and the lack of data replacement.

Tigs
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  • Recovering the folder structure & file names is nigh-on impossible. Getting the data as file-01.jpg file-02.jpg etc is the best you're going to do. I'm assuming FileVault wasn't on? I'm also guessing next time you'll invest in a backup strategy... – Tetsujin Jun 09 '20 at 08:52
  • That's unfortunate. For some reason I don't believe the recovery software found all the files and I'm worried if files without a format will be located. I started recovering all the files I can for now onto a separate HDD. Also FileVault wasn't on because this is an external SSD, apologies for not mentioning that. I will be more careful and never use DiskUtil in the terminal as it gave no warning before beginning the formatting. – Tigs Jun 09 '20 at 09:03
  • @Tetsujin is there really no way even after a millisecond of formatting? Some files that have been recovered are only half the size of the actual file, I'm worried that I will still lose data... Any specific file recovery software that is best? – Tigs Jun 09 '20 at 09:08
  • On an SSD it would have removed the file tables in milliseconds. After that all that's left is scavenger software. They all do a slightly different job; try a few & see which comes up best. – Tetsujin Jun 09 '20 at 09:13
  • @Tetsujin Damn, work now halted for a whole day. I've tried DataRescue but it didn't even recover my zip files correctly (they won't gunzip, half the size of the original). So it seems this recovery software is insufficient. I need software focussed on recovering everything, not just images and videos. – Tigs Jun 09 '20 at 09:20
  • others that are often mentioned are Disk Drill & Photorec. I've never had to use any of them in anger, so I'm sure sure which does what better, tbh. – Tetsujin Jun 09 '20 at 09:51

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