Solving the "File System Type is RAW, CHKDSK Cannot Run on RAW Drive" Issue

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Applies to: Local/External hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, memory card, etc.

The file system is RAW. CHKDSK cannot run on a RAW partition.

When you attempt to use the CHKDSK command to check and fix disk errors like file system corruption and bad sectors, you might encounter the error message “The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives.”

The file system type is RAW. CHKDSK cannot run on a RAW partition.

Does the error message in the image above look familiar? It means that you can't run CHKDSK because of an issue with the device's file system.

What does RAW file system mean?

A "RAW file system" is one that the computer cannot recognize. Here are some reasons why the file system of your hard drive or storage device (like a USB flash drive or memory card) might turn RAW:

• The file system is missing or damaged
• The disk is unformatted
• The computer does not recognize the current file system on the drive

When your hard drive or storage media becomes RAW, running CHKDSK will fail and show the message "The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not supported on RAW drives." You might receive a notification like "You need to format disk X before using it. Do you want to format it?" when trying to open the drive. Also, you won't be able to open the drive and access files stored on the device.

How to Fix "The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives."

When the file system of your drive or external storage device turns RAW, it becomes inaccessible and unusable. To make it fit for data storage again, you need to convert it from RAW to NTFS or any other Windows-compatible file system by formatting. Formatting a drive lets you assign a new file system to it, making it usable. However, as you know, formatting wipes out existing files on the storage media. So, the steps to fix the "File System Type is RAW" error are:

• Recover data from RAW drive
• Formatted Drive Recovery

If there is no data on the drive, or you do not need to save any files on it, you can simply format the drive.

Scenario 1: Recover Data from RAW Drive

While you can't access existing files on a RAW formatted drive, data recovery tools like the Data Recovery Wizard Professional can. This software can help you recover deleted, formatted, and lost partitions, as well as retrieve files from drives that have become RAW and inaccessible.

Recover data from a drive or storage device reported as RAW:

Step 1. Select and Scan the RAW Partition

If the RAW partition has a partition label, you can directly select it from the drive list and click "Scan" to search for lost files. If the RAW partition loses its label, it will be identified as "Lost Partition". Just select "Lost Partition" and click "Scan" to perform a full scan on the RAW drive.

Step 2: Preview the data in the scanning result

When the scan is finished, all recoverable files on the RAW hard drive will be displayed. Look through these files and find the one you want to recover. You can sort the scan results by file type, or just search for the file in the “Search for files or folders” box.

Step 3. Recover data from the RAW partition

Select all the files and click on “Recover” to get back all your data. Select another internal or external hard drive to save the recovered data and hit “OK” to start RAW drive recovery.

Please feel free to share this useful recovery tool with more users!

You may still be able to use a manual data recovery tool for RAW data recovery service data recovery service.

RAW Recovery Services Tool

Contact our experts for a free evaluation.

Consult with our Data Recovery Experts for a one-on-one manual RAW recovery service. After a free diagnosis, we can offer the following services:

• Repair damaged RAW drives without formatting
• Recover data from RAW drives, including BitLocker encrypted drives
• Restore RAW partitions, RAW USB, RAW flash drives, RAW external hard drives, etc.

Method 2: Convert RAW to NTFS/FAT32 via Formatting

After retrieving all saved files from the RAW drive, you can format the drive using any of the following three methods:

Method 1: Format RAW Drive Using File Explorer

Step 1. Right-click on the RAW partition in This PC and select Format.

Step 2: Choose a file system for the drive (NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT), then click Start.

Step 3: Answer “Yes” to the prompt to begin formatting the drive.

Method 2: Repair RAW to NTFS/FAT32 with Diskpart

Diskpart is a command-line tool that you can use to create, delete, and modify disk partitions on your computer, including formatting partitions.

Step 1: Press Windows + R, type diskpart, and press Enter.

Step 2. Enter the following command on each line and press Enter:

List volumes
Select volume X (where "X" represents the drive letter of the RAW drive)
Format fs=ntfs quick (or format fs=fat32 quick)
Exit

Method 3: Convert RAW to NTFS/FAT32 with Formatting Tools

To keep things simple, you can use the free partitioning software, Partition Master, to format your drive. In addition to the formats supported by Windows, it also supports EXT2 and EXT3. Other features include the ability to merge, check, and delete partitions.

To learn how to format a hard drive using the Partition Master tool, refer to the article on how to format a hard drive in Windows 10.

Bottom line

The “File system type is RAW. CHKDSK is not supported for RAW drives” error can occur due to several reasons. Your computer could be infected by a virus, failed formatting, accidental shutdown, power failure, and many other factors that can lead to this error.

Fortunately, you can recover files from an inaccessible RAW drive and format the drive so that it's usable again. If you found this guide helpful, please share it with others who might need it – we'd appreciate that!

[[4] Frequently Asked Questions about RAW File System]

Below are common issues regarding a file system becoming RAW. If you encounter any of these problems, you may find solutions here.

1. How to fix RAW file system?

The quickest and easiest way to get rid of RAW is to format the hard drive with a different file system. However, formatting will delete all data on the disk. Proceed with caution if you have important files on the disk and do not use this method.

2. How to convert disk file system back to RAW format?

You can follow the below three steps to perform RAW drive recovery using the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac tool:

Step 1: Select the RAW hard drive from where you have lost files and data, and then click “Scan” from the menu.

Step 2: The software will scan the volume you selected immediately, and display the results in the left pane.

Step 3. Select the files you want to recover from the scan results and click on the “Recover Now” button.

3. How do I convert RAW files to a regular format?

1. Right-click on the RAW partition or drive in "This PC" or "Disk Management," and select "Format." 2. Set the "Allocation Unit Size," "File System," and "Volume Label." 3. After formatting, you can use the RAW file system partition or disk normally.