How to Convert RAW to NTFS Without Losing Data [2022 Solutions]

What does "RAW file system" mean?

When an (external) hard drive, USB flash drive, or partition becomes RAW, it usually indicates one of three things:

• Your computer's operating system doesn't recognize the file system on the disk.
• There is no file system on the disk.
• The file system on your hard drive or partition is corrupted.

Windows supports the FAT, NTFS, exFAT, Live File System, and ReFS file systems. If you connect an external drive formatted with the APFS file system to a Windows computer, the computer will display the drive as RAW.

Notification of Hard Disk/Partition Turning into RAW Format

You can use Properties or Disk Management to check if the file system is RAW. However, you will only know that an external hard drive or USB flash drive might become RAW when your computer shows one of the following notifications:

"You need to format the disk in drive X before you can use it."

"Disk X is not formatted. Do you want to format it?"

"Error accessing Drive X: Disk not formatted."

The file system type is RAW. RAW drive not accessible by CHKDSK.

Why Do You Need to Convert RAW to NTFS?

When your hard drive or partition becomes RAW, you can no longer access the files on it. Also, you cannot use the RAW hard drive for data storage before formatting it to NTFS. But the question is, how do you fix the RAW disk without losing data and convert RAW to NTFS?

As you know, converting the drive will delete all the files stored on the drive. And since your RAW drive is not accessible, you can't even open the folders to copy the files. This leaves you with almost no option to back up your data.

Fortunately, there is a way to recover the files before formatting the RAW drive.

How to Convert RAW to NTFS Without Losing Data

In simple words, you can convert RAW to NTFS without losing data by performing RAW file recovery first and then formatting the RAW drive to NTFS.

# 1. Recover Data from RAW Hard Drive/Partition

You can use tools like the Data Recovery Wizard Pro to recover files from RAW drives. The utility fully supports RAW file recovery from local hard disk drives, external hard disk drives, disk partitions, USB flash drives, and even SD cards.

This tool works on Windows 10/8/7/Vista operating systems.

Video tutorial on how to convert RAW to NTFS:

Perform RAW disk/partition recovery:

Step 1. Select and scan the RAW partition

If the RAW partition has a drive 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

Once the scan is finished, all recoverable files from the RAW hard drive will be displayed. Look through these files and locate the one you wish to recover. You can sort the scan results by file type, or simply search for your file in the “Search for files or folders” box.

Step 3: Recover data from RAW partition

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

Apart from RAW file recovery, the tool helps recover data from almost all data loss scenarios, including virus attack, formatted drive recovery, lost partition, and more. For complex RAW data recovery, you can also opt for our manual data recovery service.

RAW Recovery Service Tool

Contact our experts for a free assessment.

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

• Recover damaged RAW drives without formatting
• Data recovery from RAW drives, including those encrypted with BitLocker
• Restore RAW partitions, RAW USB, RAW flash drives, RAW external hard drives, and more

Next, you will format your RAW drive. There are several ways to do this, and you can choose any method that you prefer.

# 2-1. Converting RAW to NTFS by Formatting

Step 1: Right-click on the RAW drive/partition in "This PC" (Windows 10) and choose "Format".

Step 2: Choose the NTFS file system and configure other options.

Step 3: Select Start and click OK.

Once this is done, your hard drive or partition should be usable again. You can copy the recovered files back to the disk if you wish.

# 2-2. Convert RAW to NTFS Format via CMD

If you prefer using the command line, you can use a single command in Command Prompt to convert your RAW drive/partition to NTFS. Here's how:

Step 1: Open the Start menu, search for "Command Prompt," and run it as an administrator.

Step 2 Type convert X: /fs:ntfs (where X is the letter of your drive) and press Enter.

Step 3: Type the name of the disk or partition that you want to convert to NTFS, then press Enter.

Wait for the process to complete. When it's done, your RAW disk/partition should now be formatted with the NTFS file system.

Bottom line: Conclusion

You should know that directly accessing and copying files from a RAW formatted hard drive for data recovery is not possible. You need to use a data recovery software to back up your files first, and then convert the RAW hard drive to NTFS using one of the methods mentioned above.

Frequently Asked Questions About Converting RAW to NTFS

If you have other questions regarding RAW to NTFS conversion, the following Q&A series might be helpful.

How can I convert my original hard disk to the NTFS format without losing data?

To convert a RAW hard drive to NTFS without losing data, first use a data recovery tool like Data Recovery Wizard to retrieve your files. Afterwards, format the drive using one of the methods outlined in this guide to convert it to the NTFS file system.

2. How to Convert RAW to NTFS?

To convert a RAW drive to NTFS, you can use CMD commands or format the drive through Disk Management/File Explorer.

Here's how to format a drive using Disk Management:

Step 1: Open Disk Management and locate your RAW storage device (like an SD card, hard drive, or USB flash drive). Step 2: Right-click on the volume of your device and select Format. Choose File System as NTFS. Step 3: Click OK.

How can I fix an external hard drive without formatting it?

If you don't want to format the RAW external hard drive, you need to convert the RAW external hard drive in CMD. Here are the steps:

1. Connect your external hard drive in RAW format to your computer. 2. Click the "Start" button, search for "Command," right-click on it, and select "Run as administrator." 3. Type diskpart, then hit Enter. 4. After typing each of the following commands, hit Enter:

• List disks • Select disk * (replace * with the drive number for your RAW device) • Clean • Create primary partition • Format fs=ntfs (or format fs=FAT32) • Assign letter=* (replace * with a new drive letter)

4. How to recover data from the original hard drive?

When a hard drive becomes RAW, you can't access the saved data by simply double-clicking it in File Explorer, as Windows doesn't support this file system.

However, since your computer is detecting the RAW drive, there's a good chance you can recover data from it. With a tool like this, you may be able to recover all the files stored on the RAW drive.