RAW Drive Fix: How to Resolve RAW Hard Drive or External Hard Drive Issues

What is a RAW Drive/External Hard Drive

Occasionally, your computer's hard drive, external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, or other external storage devices might suddenly turn RAW. When your hard drive becomes a RAW drive, it implies that the hard drive has transitioned to a RAW file system, which is not formatted with a compatible file system such as NTFS or FAT32. Consequently, the data on it becomes inaccessible.

How do you identify a RAW hard drive? If you find yourself in one of the following situations, know that your (external) hard drive has become RAW.

• The file system is shown as "RAW"
• File names contain unusual characters
• Unable to format external hard drive

If you've encountered any of the scenarios mentioned above, the next thing you need to know is how to perform a RAW drive fix without losing any files on it. Based on our experience, there are three methods to fix a RAW external hard drive. All three are outlined below, and you can also apply these methods to perform an SD card RAW format fix, as well as fix RAW USB flash drives and other storage devices. Continue reading to learn the detailed tutorials.

How to Fix RAW Drive [3 Methods]

RAW disk repair methods vary depending on the condition of your hard drive. We'll introduce three ways to assist you in fixing the file system RAW issue:

Method 1: Repair RAW External Hard Drive Without Formatting

If the drive shows RAW but still has a drive letter, you can attempt to fix the RAW hard drive without formatting it using CMD. With CHKDSK, you have the opportunity to repair your RAW hard drive without formatting it. Some individuals might claim that CHKDSK is not applicable to RAW drives, but that's a misconception. If your external hard drive displays with a drive letter, you can utilize CMD to try and rectify the issue. If your external hard drive is shown as RAW and lacks a drive letter, proceed with Method 2 instead.

Step 1. Connect your RAW external hard drive to your computer.

Step 2. Click on the "search" icon in the taskbar, type cmd, and then right-click "Command Prompt" and select "Run as administrator".

Step 3. Type chkdsk G: /f and press Enter to repair your RAW external hard drive. (Replace "G" with the drive letter of your RAW drive.)

Upon completing the repair process, you can open Disk Management to verify if your hard drive has been fixed. If CHKDSK is not functioning as expected, don't worry. You can rectify your RAW external hard drive using the method outlined below. You can also refer to the following passage to address any CHKDSK issues:

Sure, please provide the text that needs to be translated.

File System Type is RAW, CHKDSK Not Available for RAW Drives

Encountering an error saying 'The type of the file system is RAW. Chkdsk is not available for RAW drives'? Read more >>

Method 2: RAW Drive Fix - Format RAW External Hard Drive to NTFS Without Data Loss

A simple approach to handle this is to first recover data from the RAW external hard drive and then format it to NTFS or any other file system of your choice. As mentioned earlier, RAW signifies that your external hard drive is not formatted. Hence, the direct solution is to reformat the RAW drive to NTFS, FAT32, or any supported file system. However, it's well-known that formatting inevitably leads to data loss on the storage device. To prevent data loss, you can utilize the 100% secure tool, Data Recovery Wizard, to retrieve your files either before or after the formatting process.

As one of the top data recovery software for Windows, the Data Recovery Wizard tool will safely and swiftly execute RAW drive recovery. Following that, you can format your RAW external hard drive to NTFS without fear of losing any files. This software comes in handy when you need to perform a USB RAW format repair or troubleshoot other storage devices.

首先，从RAW硬盘驱动器中恢复数据：

A video tutorial and detailed steps are provided below. Follow either one to promptly recover files from your hard drive.

• 00:00 Introduction to RAW drive errors
• 01:14 How to check drive condition
• 03:04 Fixing the RAW drive issue

You can recommend Data Recovery Wizard to more users who have the same problem as you!

Detailed Steps to Recover Files from RAW Drive with工具Data Recovery Wizard:

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 has lost its label, it will be identified as "Lost Partition". Just select the "Lost Partition" and click "Scan" to start a full scan of the RAW drive.

Step 2. Preview the found data from the scan results

Once the scan is finished, all accessible files from the RAW hard drive will be displayed. Review these files and locate the ones you wish to recover. You can sort the scanned data by file format or directly search in the "Search files or folders" box.

Step 3. Recover data from RAW partition

Select all files and click "Recover" to retrieve all the data. Choose another internal or external hard drive to save the recovered data, then click "OK" to begin the RAW drive recovery process.

This solution also works for raw USB recovery and raw pen drive recovery. Apart from RAW disk recovery, this software can also retrieve data in other scenarios, such as recovering deleted files after emptying the Recycling Bin, recovering formatted SD cards, restoring lost data after re-installing the operating system, and more. It's worthwhile to have the tool, Data Recovery Wizard, installed on your computer to minimize the risk of data loss.

接下来，将RAW硬盘格式化为NTFS：

Once you've successfully recovered files from the RAW external hard drive, you can format the external drive to NTFS. After formatting, the drive will become normal and functional.

Step 1. Connect your RAW external hard drive to your computer.

Step 2. Navigate to "This PC" > "Manage" > "Disk Management".

Step 3. Locate the RAW hard drive, right-click on it, and select "Format".

Step 4. Choose the file system (NTFS) and assign a drive letter to your hard drive.

Step 5: Click "Start" to format your RAW hard drive. When the formatting is finished, click "OK".

Don't forget to share this useful tutorial with more users!

Method 3: Fix RAW External Hard Drive with RAW Recovery Services

You can also try an efficient way to fix RAW external hard drive and recover data by using manual RAW data recovery services.

Sure, please provide the text that needs to be translated.

tools RAW Recovery Services

Click here to contact our experts for a free evaluation

Consult with tools data recovery experts for personalized manual RAW recovery service. We can provide the following services after a FREE diagnosis:

• Repair corrupted RAW drive without formatting
• Recover data from RAW drive, including those with BitLocker encryption
• Recover RAW partitions, RAW USB, RAW flash drives, RAW external hard drives, etc.

RAW Drive FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions about RAW Drives)

Here are some questions and answers related to RAW drives and NTFS drives. Continue reading for further assistance.

< strong >1. Can the RAW drive be recovered?

Yes, you can perform a RAW drive recovery using data recovery software tools.

Translate the following text into English: 1. Select and scan the RAW partition. 2. Preview the found data from the scan results. 3. Recover data from the RAW partition.

**2. How do I convert RAW to NTFS?**

To convert RAW to NTFS without losing data:

Step 1. Run the Data Recovery Wizard to retrieve your data.

Step 2. Convert RAW to NTFS using command lines:

• Diskpart
• H: /FS:NTFS

< strong >3. What causes a RAW drive?

There can be numerous reasons why an external hard drive might become RAW:

• The file system is not supported by the operating system.
• The file system structure has been damaged.
• A partition is a part of a spanned volume or RAID.