Recover ntfs from raw. Recovering a Raw Disk

Most often, the disk file system changes to RAW after the computer was turned off incorrectly, when the lights were turned off, or the user saved time and pulled out the power cord of the system unit from the outlet. Another reason is viruses that change the NTFS to RAW format of HDD drives. How to fix this problem, read this article.

What is the RAW file system?

If the disk is in RAW format, Windows will display it among other hard drive partitions. But when you try to open it, the computer will give you an error and ask you to format it. In addition, any actions with this volume will be unavailable: checking for errors, defragmenting, etc. (it is useful to read “How to check the integrity of Windows 10 system files and restore them?”).

There is no RAW file system as such. If the disk receives this formatting, it means that the computer drivers are not able to determine the type of its file system - NTFS, FAT or FAT32. In practice, this happens in several cases:

the file system structure is damaged;
The partition has not been formatted;
there is no correct access to the contents of the volume.

If the OS volume is damaged, the “Reboot and select proper boot device” or “Operating System not found” warnings will appear when the computer boots.

Recovery

If the problem occurs on a non-system drive, but it contains important information that will be lost when formatted, use standard Windows tools or third-party programs to fix the error.

Windows tools

Basically, the standard chkdsk utility helps fix problems with formatting in RAW.

After checking, the computer will repair damaged sectors and the NTFS file system on the problematic volume.

Important! This method is effective if the flash drive or hard drive has been formatted in NTFS.

The chkdsk utility will also help when the system disk is damaged. But for this you will need a boot disk or flash drive.

Start the computer from a bootable USB flash drive or disk → Select “System Restore”.
Advanced options -> command line -> enter chkdsk drive_letter: /f.

In the recovery environment, the partition letters are different from the names of the logical drives. To avoid mistakes, open the list of computer partitions in the command line.

Enter diskpart → list volume → the list will indicate which disk is the system one.

Third party programs

There are third-party programs that help restore the NTFS file system if for some reason it was reformatted to RAW. They do not damage the user’s information stored on the volume, unlike the chkdsk utility, which can “affect” them during the recovery process.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery

Important! This method is most effective if the RAW file system appears on a flash drive.

TestDisk

This is a multifunctional free utility that works with hard drive partitions using a large number of options. The program is presented in a portable version, so it does not require installation. The main disadvantage of TestDisk is that it does not have a Russified interface.

Download the archive with the program → run the file testdisk_win.exe as administrator → select “create” → enter.
Use the up/down arrows to select the desired drive → enter.
Specify the desired type of partition table (the utility will do this automatically) → enter.
To search for “lost” partitions, select “Analyze” → enter → Quick Search → enter.
The utility will find “lost” volumes → press “p” to view the list of files.

An alternative way to restore NTFS formatting of a partition is presented in the video.

How to recover data from a disk or partition whose file system is defined as RAW?

First, you should answer what is the RAW file system?

In fact, the RAW file system does not exist, and defining the partition file system as RAW means that none of the file system drivers installed in the operating system recognized the file system name of the disk or partition.

If the disk file system is recognized as RAW, reading data, assigning a volume label, and other operations with this partition become impossible.

In this case, the operating system displays the size of the partition and, when accessing it, offers to format it.

RAW hard drive

Rice. 1 Hard drive is displayed as RAW

If the operating system cannot recognize the file system of the hard drive, it will display it as RAW. In this case, the user will not have access to data or disk partitions.

However, its capacity, free space and used space will be displayed as “0” (zero). This means that all data from the disk is lost.

They are not available to the user for viewing or copying.

RAW hard drive partition

There are times when, as a result of a virus attack or damage, only one of the disk partitions will be displayed as RAW.

When you try to open such a disk, Windows will report an error and the need to format it.

Formatting such a partition will make it available for further use, but will lead to the loss of all data stored on it.

Reasons why a hard drive or partition may become RAW

The reasons can be very diverse, but if we summarize them, the following can be called the main ones.

For the entire disk:

Connection or drive cable problems. Sometimes a hard drive can be detected as RAW if its connection cable is damaged or there is poor contact in the connector.
Broken sectors. Having a large number of bad sectors on a disk can damage its file system.
Damage to the file system structure. In addition to a large number of bad sectors, the file system can also be damaged for other reasons.
Partition table damage. Regardless of the reasons for the damage to the partition table, if it is damaged, the entire disk will be detected as RAW.
Reinstalling or restoring the operating system.
As a result of exposure to viruses. Malware can change or delete important settings or information on your hard drive.

For a disk partition:

Viruses. Virus programs can, for example, damage the part of the hard disk partition table that indicates the beginning and end of the partition.
Reinstalling Windows.
Number of hard drives and partitions. Too many disks and partitions on the computer can lead to RAW partitions.

Methods for restoring a RAW disk

If Windows boots, and the data from the RAW disk has no value for the user.

This is the easiest and fastest way to restore the functionality of a RAW disk or partition.

In this case, it is enough to simply format it in order to be able to use it in the future.

It, of course, does not imply saving or restoring data, but the user must understand that such a possibility exists.

If Windows reports an error and the need to format it, just click the “Format disk” button.

Fig.2 Formatting the disk

If the operating system does not inform the user about the error, but after checking the properties of the disk, the absence of a file system is visible or the disk is not displayed in the “This PC” folder, then you can format it using the Disk Management menu (Fig. 3).

To do this, go to Disk Management by right-clicking on the Start menu.

In the window that opens, find a disk with the RAW file system (it will be signed as such), right-click on it and select Format.

When Windows boots, it is important not to lose data from the RAW disk.

If the data of a disk or partition that is defined as RAW is important to you, then do not rush to format it.

First, try checking such a disk for errors and fixing them. This may restore its functionality.

To do this:

Go to Disk Management (see above).
Remember the drive letter of the RAW file system.

Note: if the drive does not have a letter, assign one to it. To do this, right-click on the desired drive and select “Change drive letter or drive path” (Fig. 4).

Run Command Prompt as an administrator. To do this, right-click on the Start menu and select “Command Prompt (Admin).”
Enter the command chkdsk D: /f (instead of D: - specify your drive letter) and press Enter (Fig. 5).

After running the command, the process of checking and correcting errors will begin. Often, after checking, Windows reports that all errors have been corrected. After that, try going to your disk again, the RAW file system should change to the one that was originally (FAT or NTFS).

If Windows does NOT boot and the disk on which the operating system is installed is defined as RAW.

If the user does not have the installation disk:

you need to disconnect the hard drive from the computer and connect it to another. Using another computer, this hard drive can be checked for errors using the method described above or scanned using a data recovery program.

If you have an installation disk available:

Boot your computer using the installation disc and select Repair your computer instead of installing.

In the recovery menu, find and select Command Prompt. Use it to check for errors on the disk on which Windows is installed.

To do this:

Enter the Notepad command in the Command Prompt. As a result of executing this command, a Notepad window will open in a new window.
Select File/Open and look for availability and drive letters.

Run the Command Line to check and fix errors on the disk on which the operating system is located.

Rice. 8 Running check and execution and disk errors from the command line

Recovering data from a RAW disk using data recovery software

If none of the described methods restore the functionality of the hard drive or partition, then another way to recover disk data is through data recovery programs.

There are many and varied programs for data and file recovery today.

But in this case, only the one that is capable of recovering information from a RAW disk or partition is suitable for the user.

That is, from a disk or partition from a missing or damaged file system.

Here you should pay attention to the so-called Raw Recovery or Partition Recovery programs.

The principle of their operation is similar, there may be differences in some functions and interface.

For clarity, let's look at the process of restoring data from a RAW partition using Hetman Partition Recovery(the program can be downloaded from the developer’s website).

After the user launches the program, he will be provided with a list of all disks and partitions on the computer. You need to select the RAW section and double-click on it.

In our case, this is Disk (E:).

A special feature of the program is that it recovers data from disks or partitions with any file system, which it detects automatically, without the need for the user to make additional settings.

That is, the user just needs to select the required type of analysis in the next window and wait for it to finish (in this case, it is recommended to carry out “Full analysis”).

Depending on the size of the disk being scanned, the analysis process can take from 15 minutes to several hours.

As a result, the program will display all detected files and arrange them into folders in accordance with the extensions of the found files.

How to recover data from a disk or partition whose file system is defined as RAW

5 (100%) 1 vote[s]

Answers:

Yu.A. Peysakhovich:
Format the flash drive.

Ryzhanov Denis Ivanovich:
This flash drive needs to be formatted... In principle, this is almost always available using standard Windows XP tools.

Mikev:
Your RAW is most likely just an unformatted flash drive, because RAW means “raw”, fresh.

TU-154:
Either the flash drive has a password, is not formatted, or is simply faulty. Try formatting it using standard Windows XP tools. You can also try tools for working with a flash drive from the flash drive manufacturer.

GIN:
Such a flash drive cannot be revived. Neither Windows tools nor programs from the manufacturer. As a rule, the operating system sees it as a device, but when formatting it is impossible to access the device. For 3 months I haven’t been vomiting, but it’s all in vain.

Deoniss:
write it all well, only raw is not a file system, but a simple one (a glitch) and it stands for: Read Error Rate. If it’s on hard drive, then from under dos it’s calm - format. But I haven’t had the chance to restore from a flash drive yet.

Serg:
This isn't necessarily a glitch. It can simply be encrypted, for example, with the TrueCrypt program. From the curious.

Oleg:
The other day the flash drive crashed (the computer turned off, but the flash drive was active). After turning it on, it was still recognized, but the next connection the operating system began installing the flash drive as a new device, after which it showed that the file system was RAW, volume 0. So this is not encryption from the curious - it really is a crash.

Zed:
What if this happened to a local disk? This happened for no reason, after reinstalling Windows!!! It contains important information and cannot be formatted! What to do?

NED:
What to do if the flash drive with RAW is not formatted?

Espair:
I had a similar experience. This is a disaster, just throw away the flash drive.

Sharap:
Try starting a new Windows installation on this flash drive, the computer should see it as an unformatted partition, and when, after formatting this partition, the computer wants to start installing on it, turn off the computer! It helped me!

Fish:
Restorer 2000 can extract some information from under RAW.

Djinny:
1. The flash drive contains valuable data. We install the Easy Recovery Professional program and try to restore it. If it works, then calmly format the flash drive (it doesn’t matter from what - for those who can only do this under DOS, I recommend using an antivirus). 1.1 It didn’t work out, but the data is VERY VALUABLE. We carefully take the flash drive to the service center, where for a huge amount of money and considerable time, this matter CAN be restored for you. The method is to transplant the memory chip itself into a similar working device. If the memory itself is intact (usually yes), then it helps 99%. 2. There is no valuable data. We are trying to format it, just for Windows. It didn’t work - using some convenient utility (parition magic) we try to delete the raw partition and create a new one. If it doesn't work, throw it away.

Recently I encountered a situation where my old external USB drive was no longer readable in Windows, being detected as RAW. This indicates that Windows cannot determine the file system structure present on the disk. The reason why a partition is defined as RAW can be different: the disk may not be partitioned, the partition table header may be erased/damaged/missing, the disk may have bad sectors, or there may be physical problems with the disk itself or its controller.

From the user's point of view, such a RAW disk is displayed in Explorer, but its size is defined as 0 (zero). When trying to open or read data from a RAW partition, various errors appear like:

To use a disk in the E: drive, first format it. Do you want to format it?

You need to format the disk in Drive E: before you can use it. Do you want to format it?

No access to E:\. The volume file system is not recognized.

Cannot Access Disk. The volume does not contain a recognized file system.

Note. We deliberately do not consider the option of physical disk damage, since this cannot be treated using software. General recommendation: it is advisable to first check the disk using any S.M.A.R.T status viewing utility.

As a rule, the easiest way to restore disk functionality is to delete the current RAW partition and recreate it with formatting. But the data will naturally be lost, which may be categorically unacceptable. Let's try to run a disk check using the standard CHKDSK check utility:

The utility returned that CHKDSK cannot be performed on RAW disks.

The type of the file system is RAW.
CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives.

To restore the original file system on a RAW disk without formatting, we will use a free console utility TestDisk.

Download, unpack the archive with the utility and run exe in mode NoLog
Find a disk whose file system is defined as RAW and select Proceed
Next, you need to select the type of disk partition table. As a rule, it is determined automatically as Intel for MBR partitions or EFI GPT for GPT tables. However, in some cases you need to select None
To start analyzing the disk data structure, select Analyze, and on the next screen Quick Search
The TestDisk utility will display a list of found partitions. Using the key P you can display a list of files on the found partition (Q - exit viewing mode). If the partition also has a P label (the partition is highlighted in green), such a partition will be restored. Label D – removed. To change the label, use the left/right arrows on your keyboard.
Advice. A rather useful function of the file viewing mode on the file system is the ability to restore individual folders/files to another drive. To do this, in viewing mode, press the key C.
Once all partitions are marked for recovery, click Enter And Write(here be careful not to overwrite the partition table with garbage). If you need to perform a more in-depth analysis of the disk, select DeepSearch.
Advice. Keep in mind that if you restore a system disk in this way, in addition to the partition with Windows itself, depending on the OS version, there may be other partitions: a partition with a bootloader, a partition with a recovery environment, etc. To understand the structure of Windows partitions, I recommend reading the articles. If the boot sector of the disk is damaged, the TestDisk utility will offer to try to restore it using the option RebuildB.S..
After this (a reboot may be required), the utility will restore the original partition table and file system structure (usually NTFS or FAT32) on the RAW disk and you will be able to access the files stored on it.

Almost every user has encountered a RAW file system error and wondered how to return to NTFS. To begin with, I would like to dwell in more detail on the reasons for the appearance of this very RAW and give some terminology.

So, RAW is not a file system at all. In this way, the OS identifies an unknown structure. By the way, RAW translated from English means raw material / raw material. NTFS – New Technology File System, translated from English - new technology file system.
You can name a number of signs that will help identify the problem when accessing a particular section. Windows may return the following dialog boxes and messages:

The following factors can contribute to resetting the disk structure to RAW type from NTFS and the appearance of similar errors:

sudden voltage surge;
incorrect disconnection of disks from power supply;
incorrect OS update at any stage;
bad sectors;
unstable operation of the motherboard;
damaged cables;
virus attack;
If an error occurs with a USB screw/flash drive, you should also check the connector itself.

There are a number of ways to return a file system to NTFS from RAW, but we will start with the one that minimizes risks and helps preserve the data structure and the data itself. So, how can you return a RAW disk to NTFS without losing data? Let's look at several methods in order, starting with the simplest.

Classic restart

No matter how trivial it may sound, a simple reboot sometimes helps to return the file system from RAW to NTFS. This is due to a temporary glitch. If this method does not help, move on.

Checking connections

If you have a desktop PC and it is not under warranty, open the system unit and carefully check the integrity of all wires, connections and their tight fit. The check did not find anything, just try reconnecting the disk into a free slot on the motherboard.
If the netbook/laptop is under warranty or not, contact the service center.
If we are talking about removable media, reconnect it to another USB connector. If the situation repeats, check the functionality of the usb with another device - mouse, keyboard, other media, etc.

First you need to eliminate the physical malfunction, and then move on to a software solution. The above methods did not help to return the file system from RAW to NTFS? Let's move on.

Check Disk will help with NTFS

Checks hard drives and removable media for bugs in the file system with further correction. In some cases, this will help return the PC to working condition.
Launch cmd with elevated privileges:

No access to cmd?

The situations are completely different: if Windows does not boot, then there is no access to the command line. Naturally, there is no way to run Check Disk utilities with SFC.

Use live discs on CD/DVD/flash drive.
Use a boot disk or flash drive to restore NTFS:

To avoid errors, use the DiskPart utility:

After rebooting, do not forget to return the boot device - install the system disk.

If you have a desktop PC, you can disconnect the hard drive and connect it to another one and run the scan from a different operating system.

Antiviruses will return NTFS

Check your system for viruses. The following will help:

MALWAREBYTES – trial version works fully for 14 days, you can download it from the official website.
https://ru.malwarebytes.com/premium;
Dr.Web CureIt! – free for use at home, you can download it from the developer’s website by following the link.
https://free.drweb.ru/download+cureit+free.
Having ruled out a virus attack, and if it was not possible to restore a normal file system, proceed to further instructions.

Formatting or how to return NTFS

One of the simple ways to return the hard drive to normal is to format the disk, but this can only be done if nothing important is stored on it. You can convert RAW to NTFS using the built-in Windows utility - diskmgmt.msc.

Third-party tools to help the NTFS file system

Proven third-party tools that have proven themselves to be the best can also return a file system from RAW to NTFS.

Recuva - from the well-known developer Piriform, they also created CCleaner.

We will download the program from the official website and select the version with the free license.