How to convert RAW file system to NTFS without losing data

What is a "RAW file system"?

File systems like NTFS, FAT32, and exFAT govern how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, you won't be able to access or open a storage medium, whether it's a hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, and so on. A RAW file system indicates that the hard drive is in an unformatted or unknown file system state. A disk or drive with a RAW file system is what we call a RAW disk/drive. When a hard drive or external storage device turns RAW, it could be due to:

• The disk file system is missing or damaged • A RAW disk is not formatted with the FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 or NTFS/NTFS5 file system • The computer fails to recognize the current file system of the storage medium

The RAW file system can be caused by various reasons, such as virus infections, failed formatting, unexpected shutdown of the operating system, power outages, etc. When your hard drive or external storage device turns into RAW format, the device becomes inaccessible, and you can't access the files stored on it. Furthermore, you might encounter error messages when trying to open the device or run CHKDSK on it, like "You need to format the disk in drive before using it" and "File system type is RAW. CHKDSK is not supported for RAW drives."

How to Fix a RAW File System Drive

This is a video tutorial on how to convert RAW file system to NTFS and how to recover data from RAW system. Watch the guide and follow the detailed steps below to fix a drive with RAW file system.

As mentioned above, to prepare the data storage and access, you might need to format the RAW drive. Indeed, formatting the device assigns a file system to it, making it usable. However, this operation also deletes the existing files on the drive. Hence, to fix a RAW drive without losing data, you need to:

1. First, perform RAW data recovery. 2. Then, format the RAW to NTFS or another compatible Windows file system.

Step 1: Recover data from RAW drive using Data Recovery Wizard tool

Although you cannot access the RAW drive when you attempt to open it, you can still utilize a hard drive recovery software - tools Data Recovery Wizard to retrieve your data from the storage media. tools Data Recovery Software supports deleted file recovery, formatted file recovery, RAW drive recovery, and more. It will assist you in recovering any existing files from RAW hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards, and the like.

Recover data from a drive with the RAW file system:

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, the system will identify it as a "Lost Partition". Just select "Lost Partition" and click "Scan" to perform a full scan of the RAW drive.

Step 2. Preview the data found in the scan result

Once the scan is complete, all recoverable files from the RAW hard drive will be displayed. Look through these files to locate the one you want to recover. You can sort the scan results by file type, or simply search for it in the "Search File or Folder" box.

Step 3: Recover data from RAW partition

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

Tool Data Recovery Wizard is a powerful Tool Data Recovery Wizard utility that can help retrieve all data from RAW drives. After successfully recovering all files from the hard drive, you can immediately format the RAW drive to NTFS, FAT32, or any other file system.

Method 2: Convert RAW to NTFS by Formatting

There are three ways to format a disk – using File Explorer, Disk Management, or a free formatting tool. Here, we'll show you how to format a RAW drive in File Explorer.

Step 1: Right-click on the RAW drive or RAW disk in This PC and select “Format.”

Step 2. Choose the file system (NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT) that you need, and then click “Start”.

Step 3. Click “OK” in the warning window to start formatting the storage medium.

Repair RAW Drive without Formatting using RAW Recovery Services

If you don't want to format your hard drive, you may try our RAW Recovery Service to fix the issue.

Tool RAW Recovery Service

Contact our experts for a free evaluation.

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

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

Bottom line

As the tool Data Recovery Wizard supports formatted data recovery, you can also format the RAW drive before performing data recovery, and then use the software to recover files from formatted partition. For more detailed guidance, refer to the following video: