RAW USB Recovery | How to Recover Data from RAW USB Drive

What to do if USB turns into RAW format!

"I have a USB flash drive with some data on it. When I plug it into my computer, it prompts me to format the drive, and the USB is shown as RAW format. There are some important files on the drive that need to be recovered. Does anyone know how to restore files from RAW USB?"

A USB turning RAW is a common headache for users. When a USB turns RAW, it means the data on the device becomes inaccessible. You won't be able to access or open files on the device, such as documents, photos, emails, and more. Hence, to fix a RAW USB, you need to first perform a RAW USB recovery, followed by repairing a RAW formatted USB drive. But before showing you how to do that, you might want to learn more about a RAW USB drive in detail.

Common Reasons for USB Drive Turning to RAW Format

Usually, your USB drive doesn't become RAW for no reason. You can trace the cause, which is often one of the following:

• You are denied access to the USB device.
• Your USB is unformatted or has an incorrect format.
• The operating system on your computer fails to recognize the current file system of your USB.
• Your USB drive is infected with a virus.

1. USB设备突然无法识别：当你将USB插入电脑时，系统可能无法正确识别它，或者在“我的电脑”中显示为未知设备。 2. 文件系统损坏：你可能会发现无法打开USB驱动器，提示需要格式化。这通常是因为文件系统已损坏或变成了RAW状态。 3. 异常断电或强制移除：在读写数据时突然断电或强制从电脑上拔出USB设备，可能导致文件系统混乱，从而变为RAW。 4. 病毒感染：某些病毒或恶意软件可能会改变USB的文件系统，使其变为RAW。 5. USB驱动问题：过时或损坏的USB控制器驱动程序也可能导致USB设备变为RAW。 6. 分区问题：USB驱动器的分区表可能因各种原因（如误操作、软件冲突等）而损坏，使驱动器变为RAW状态。 7. 系统错误：操作系统（如Windows）的某些内部错误可能会导致USB驱动器被识别为RAW。 如果你遇到以上任何一种情况，可以尝试使用磁盘管理工具、数据恢复软件或安全模式来解决问题。如果问题仍然存在，建议寻求专业的技术支持。

When your USB device turns RAW, the system doesn't necessarily show it as a RAW USB. Instead, you'll encounter various notifications. You'll receive one of the following situations or error messages while using the USB drive, and checking the drive properties will display the file system as RAW when:

- The media type being read by the drive is invalid. Do you want to abort, retry, or fail? - The file system displays as "RAW." - Windows might show "The disk is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?" - The filename contains unusual characters. - A message stating "Sector not found."

When using certain USB drives, such as an external USB hard drive, USB storage card, USB Smart Media, or any other storage media, you may encounter these annoying messages. Fortunately, there are ways to fix RAW USB drives without losing data. By recovering precious files from the RAW USB and then fixing the RAW format, you can restore your USB drive to working condition without losing data.

3-Step USB RAW Recovery Solution

Before fixing RAW USB, it's necessary to perform RAW USB drive recovery first to ensure data safety. A professional data recovery tool like Data Recovery Wizard fully supports RAW USB recovery. With it, you can easily recover all files from an inaccessible USB drive. You can preview the software here:

- Supports recovery for original data, deleted files, [formatted files](/resource/format-file-recovery.html), emptied Recycle Bin, lost partitions, and virus attack, etc. - Retrieve files from USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards, external hard drives, digital cameras, music players, computers, and other devices. - Restore almost all types of files.

Video Tutorial: Recover Files from RAW USB

Guide: Recover Files from a RAW Format Flash Drive

Step 1: Select the USB drive to scan

Run the Data Recovery Wizard and select the USB drive where you lost your important files. Click on “Scan” to start.

Step 2: Preview and check the data from USB drive

After the scan is complete, you can use the “Filter” feature and the “Search” option to quickly locate specific types of files.

Step 3. Recover Data from the Flash Drive

Once the scan is complete and lost USB drive files are found, click “Recover” to restore them. You should save the recovered files to a secure location on your computer instead of the USB drive.

When your USB drive turns RAW, you cannot format it directly as prompted by the computer. Doing so will delete all existing files on the RAW USB drive, and you might lose the chance to recover files from the RAW USB drive. You should first recover files from the RAW USB drive and then fix this problematic storage device. Since you can't perform RAW USB drive file recovery on your own, you need assistance from third-party tools.

RAW USB Data Recovery Services

As one of the best data recovery software for Windows, Data Recovery Wizard is a great suggestion for RAW USB drive recovery, including unparalleled manual recovery services.

Original Data Recovery Service Tool

Click here to contact our experts for a free assessment

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

• Repair corrupted RAW drives without formatting
• Recover data from RAW drives, including those encrypted with BitLocker
• Restore RAW partitions, RAW USBs, RAW flash drives, RAW external hard drives, etc.

Three Ways to Fix a RAW USB Drive

As you might know, the most effective way to fix a RAW USB is to format it. However, formatting the device should be your last resort since it will wipe out all existing data on the USB drive.

Method 1: Fix RAW USB Drive by Checking the Device

Windows has a built-in feature that can check for file system errors on your drive and fix them automatically.

Step 1: Connect the USB drive to your computer.

Step 2. Open "This PC" (in Windows 10). Right-click your USB drive under "Devices and drives," and select "Properties."

Step 3: Click the “Tools” tab, then click “Check.”

Step 4: In the Error Checking window, select the option to Scan and repair drive, and wait for the process to complete.

Method 2: Fix RAW USB Drive Using CMD

You may have heard that the chkdsk command can't be used on RAW drives, but this isn't actually true. As long as your USB device still has a drive letter assigned to it, you can use the command to check and repair the storage device.

Step 1: Connect the USB device to your computer.

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

Step 3. Type chkdsk /f G: (replace G with the drive letter of your RAW drive) and press Enter to fix your RAW USB.

After the process is finished, launch Disk Management and check if your hard drive has been fixed. If CHKDSK is not working, consider formatting your USB. Luckily, since you have already recovered files from USB, you can format it with peace of mind.

Method 3: Repair RAW USB Drive by Formatting

Step 1: Connect your RAW formatted USB/SD card/flashing drive to the computer.

Step 2. Right-click on the RAW USB drive, SD card, or other RAW device in This PC/My Computer and select "Format."

Step 3: Reset the file system and then format the USB drive. Finally, click on “OK” to repair RAW USB to NTFS/FAT32. After that, you can use it again.

There are more than one ways to format a USB drive. Apart from the built-in feature of Windows, you can also use a professional USB formatting tool to format RAW USB. After formatting, you can move your files back to the USB drive if needed.

Conclusion

Normally, fixing RAW USB flash drive is not that difficult. But to ensure the safety of your data, you will inevitably need assistance from a third-party tool like Data Recovery Wizard – a data recovery software. It performs successful RAW USB recovery and is also helpful in other data loss situations. Get the tool with confidence to fix RAW issues worry-free.

Frequently Asked Questions on RAW USB Drive Recovery

Want to know more about RAW USB drive recovery? We've prepared four frequently asked questions to help you gain more information:

< strong > 1. How to Repair RAW USB without Formatting?

You can repair the RAW USB without formatting it using the following methods:

• 1. Repair RAW file system on USB drive.
• 2. Check for hardware issues.
• 3. Fix RAW USB with CHKDSK command.
• 4. Check for USB driver updates.
• 5. Delete RAW partition from USB drive.

< strong > 2. Is it possible to recover data from RAW USB?

Yes, data recovery wizard tool can help you to perform RAW drive recovery.

1. Connect your USB drive to your computer/laptop and scan it using the Data Recovery Wizard tool. 2. It's time to select the files you wish to recover from the USB flash drive. 3. When you're ready to perform the RAW USB recovery, click the "Recover" button.

3. How to format a RAW USB drive?

Please follow these steps to format the RAW USB drive:

1. Use the Data Recovery Wizard tool to recover data from RAW USB. 2. Open Disk Management in Windows. 3. Right-click on your RAW USB flash drive and select "Format." Your USB drive will then be formatted.

< strong > 4. Why does my USB drive suddenly become RAW?

Your USB drive needs to be formatted, or it was formatted incorrectly recently. This could be because your computer's operating system currently doesn't recognize the file system on the USB. Alternatively, a virus might have infected your USB drive.