But the fact is that when you format a drive, the operating system only deletes the file points of the resident files, and the actual files remain intact at the same location. To show you the recovery process, we have a test drive with a typical set of user files that can reside on an external exFAT disk that is spread over a particular folder structure. Currently supported and running on the system that meets the requirements listed below: Operating System: Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 Microsoft. Photo Smoother Software. Download Recuva 2. PC Inspector File Recovery PC Inspector can recover data from most FAT and NTFS partitions Recover itself if the boot sector is deleted or damaged. Video Recognition Software. You can also scan only specific areas on the disk with the cluster scanner if the lost files are near the beginning, middle or end of the drive, etc.