Inquiry About Memory Card Formatting on Sony A7 III

[p.qorbani]

Subject:

Dear Sony Team,

I hope this email finds you well.

I am using a Sony A7 III camera, and I recently formatted my SanDisk 95MB/s SD card using the camera’s built-in formatting option. I would like to understand how the formatting process works in Sony cameras. Specifically:

1. Does the Sony A7 III perform a Quick Format (where only the file system is reset but data remains recoverable) or a Full Format (where data is permanently erased and overwritten)?
2. Is there any possibility of recovering data from the formatted SD card?
3. If recovery is possible, do you have any recommended methods or tools for retrieving the lost files?

I appreciate any technical insights or documentation you can provide regarding how the Sony A7 III handles memory card formatting.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

[Olaf W.]

Welcome. This is a Sony users forum, not an official Sony site. You should contact Sony through there website if you‘d like to get an official answer by a representative.

[XKAES]

This may vary from camera to camera, but the cameras that I have must be using a QUICK format -- because the format is so fast. 

Add to this that a camera formatted card may display what's on the card differently than what a computer operating system sees.  

This still causes me a lot of confusion.  I'll format a card in the camera, and take some shots, but my computers show thumbnails of the OLD photos -- that are no longer on the card.

So if your card was just quick formatted, with no files overwritten, you can probably use some appropriate recovery software.

[Bokehbobo]

I own an a7IIIr for which I have only use Sony's "Tough" series 64GB cards that are always formatted in-camera using the "Format" menu function. It takes just a few seconds and my images disappear (and apparently non-recoverable) after formatting.

[Cameratose]

Images are not really deleted from a card. Formatting simply deletes the file structure, (probably not saying that correctly) so the camera thinks the space is open. You can recover images from a formatted card. Sometimes. 

When a file is deleted from an SD card, the actual file data is not immediately erased from the card. Instead, the file system marks the space occupied by the deleted file as available for new data. This means the original file content remains on the card until it is overwritten by new files saved to the card.

Here's one article. You can do a search and find more. You may need specialized software.

How to Recover Deleted Photos from Memory Cards

 

[XKAES]

A "format" typically refers to a full format, which completely erases all data on a storage device by scanning for bad sectors and overwriting the entire disk, while a "quick format" only deletes the file system (FAT) information, making it much faster but also allowing for potential data recovery with specialized tools as the actual data remains on the drive.

I have no idea which type of format your camera does.  If you can find out, you will know your options -- if any.

Edited February 8 by XKAES

[Cameratose]

Not true for new cameras. There is no 'quick format'. Read the article I posted. The images are still there as long as you haven't overwritten them with new files. 

[XKAES]

Having dealt with lots of data recovery for years, I don't have much faith in that article.  It only makes sense regarding Quick Formats -- where only the FAT is wiped.  A true format over-writes the sectors,  

As I said in my original post, it depends on the camera.  I'm assuming that my camera storage irregularities are due to my cameras only performing a Quick Format -- so my computer thinks there is something on it even though the camera has "formatted it".  If the camera had done a real format, there would be nothing on it for my computer to see,

But P.Q has nothing to lose by trying some recovery software.

Edited February 8 by XKAES