RAW Partition Recovery: How to Recover Data from RAW Drives?

You plug in your drive, ready to browse your pet’s photo album. Then, a dreaded error message appears: “The volume does not contain a recognized file system.” A RAW partition is a nightmare scenario for any user. One moment, your drive works fine; the next, it refuses to open, insisting that you format it first. If this has happened to you, don’t panic—your data isn’t necessarily lost.

We’ve dealt with RAW partitions on every storage device you can think of—USBs, HDDs, SD cards, and more. In this guide, we’ll show you how to recover your files and restore the RAW partition without losing your data.

Note: Before we go into recovery mode, let’s take a moment to understand what exactly a RAW partition is. Normally, storage devices like hard disk drives and SSDs use file systems like NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT to organize your data. But when something goes wrong and Windows can’t recognize the file system, it labels your drive as “RAW DISK” or “RAW.” This can happen for a number of reasons, including improper shutdowns, malware, or even logical corruptions like bad sectors on your hard drive.

You’ll see some of these signs when dealing with a RAW partition:

1. ⚠️ Windows asks you to format the drive before use, with an error message that says, “Disk is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?”
2. 💿 Disk Management shows the drive’s status as “RAW” instead of the usual NTFS/FAT32.
3. ⚙️ The CHKDSK utility refuses to run and shows the following error message:
   “The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives.”

Can You Recover Data from a RAW Partition?

The short answer is yes; in most cases, you can recover data from a drive that has become RAW. There are two things to keep in mind—act quickly and avoid writing new data to the drive.

A RAW partition doesn’t mean your files are gone but that the file system has become unreadable by your OS. This means that the actual data still exists on the drive until it is overwritten (which is why you should stop using the RAW drive immediately!)

We’ve put together a table of some scenarios and how likely data recovery would be in those cases.

Factor	Impact on Recovery	Details
🛠 Cause of RAW Partition	High impact	• File System Corruption (power failure, malware) → Easily recoverable 🟢 • Bad Sectors → Partial recovery possible 🟡 • Physical Damage → Difficult without professional help 🔴
💾 Storage Device Type	Moderate impact	• HDDs & External Drives → Best chance of recovery 🟢 • SSDs → Lower recovery chance 🟡 • USB Drives & SD Cards → Possible, but depends on flash memory health 🟡
🔄 Was the Drive Formatted?	Critical impact	• Not formatted → High recovery chance 🟢 • Quick format → Recoverable with software 🟡 • Full format → Files likely overwritten, hard to recover 🔴

Now that we know recovery is possible, let’s look at some step-by-step methods to get your data back.

How to Recover Data from a RAW Drive?

Method 1: Use Professional Data Recovery Software

If your drive has turned RAW but isn’t physically damaged, using a professional data recovery software is your best bet. These tools will scan your disk, reconstruct lost files, and allow you to recover them before they get damaged further.

Note: While there are ways to repair and restore lost partitions with command-line tools, these require a little more technical know-how. You can use free tools like TestDisk to analyze and scan for lost partitions on your RAW drive, but remember, always recover your salvageable data before attempting repairs. This is simply because repairs, especially DIY ones, can always go south.

If you’re still confident and want to try out repairs yourself, we recommend that you proceed with caution.

If not, go ahead and download the Stellar Windows Data Recovery Professional software, which can perform RAW data recovery and even recover your RAW hard drive partitions, regardless of an internal or external drive. This software has a mode called Raw Recovery scan that looks at each sector of your RAW drive and recovers traces of lost information. It does this by reading file signatures, and so, all your files are listed according to their file types.

Some of its features are:

1. 💾 Support for RAW Drives: Stellar Data Recovery software can recover data from RAW partitions on HDDs, SSDs, SD cards, and more.
2. 🐣 Beginner-Friendly Interface: You don’t need to be a tech guru; just follow a few simple steps, and just a few clicks later, voila, you’ll have recovered your data!
3. 🔎 Preview before Recovery: You can see all the lost files that are recoverable so you can make an informed decision whether or not to purchase the software.

To Recover Data from your RAW Drive, Follow these Steps.

1. Download and install the Stellar Windows Data Recovery Professional software on your system.
2. Run the app. In the panel on the left, select “Raw File Formats” under Settings.

3. Select the file types you want to recover. For the sake of this demonstration, we’ve continued with the default selections that include most file types.

4. Once you’ve done that, you can go to the “Recover From” tab and select your drive. Then tap on “Scan” to start.

5. Wait for the scan to complete. In our experience, this usually takes a few minutes, depending on the size of your drive.

6. After the scan, you can preview all the recoverable files that the software finds. If you have the product key, click on the Recover button and retrieve the files you need.

Also Read – How to Get Activation Key for Stellar Data Recovery Software

[Note: Make sure you save these recovered files to a location other than from where they were recovered. This prevents unnecessary data loss in case the drive or partition is corrupted.]

Method 2: Seek Professional Help From an Expert

If your RAW drive is physically damaged, or you don’t want to risk trying recovery and repairs at home, contacting a professional data recovery service is your safest option.

If your drive has these symptoms, we recommend you contact an expert:

1. It makes grinding/clicking or beeping noises: This almost always indicates physical damage to the delicate moving parts inside your drive, and further use or attempts at recovery could endanger potentially recoverable data.
2. You suspect severe corruption, or the drive is dead/does not turn on: In dire scenarios, it’s best to leave it to the pros.
3. The methods listed above failed to work.

These services vary in cost depending on your device’s condition, the underlying issue, and the drive’s capacity and type. If you want reliable service from some of the best professionals in the industry, get help from Stellar’s Professional Data Recovery Service.

Fill in all your details, explain the problem briefly, and hit the “Request a Call Back” button. A data recovery professional will get back to you shortly!

After Recovery: How to Reformat Your RAW Drive

After you’ve successfully recovered all your files, you’ll need to reformat the RAW partition to use it again.

[⚠️ Beware: This formats your disk and erases all data on it, so make sure to only do this after your data is backed up safely].

The good news is that you don’t need any fancy third-party software for this; you can just use the Disk Management utility on Windows. Here’s how:

1. Press Win+X and select Disk Management from the list.

2. Find your RAW partition (it will show up as “RAW” under the File System column).
3. Right-click your RAW drive and select Format. Windows will give you a warning: “This is the active partition on this disk. All data on the partition will be lost. Are you sure to format this partition?” If you’re sure that your data is safely backed up, go ahead and click Yes.

   

4. Now choose a file system– there are many options, including NTFS, exFAT, and FAT32. For most purposes, NTFS works just fine for Windows. Select it, then click
5. Wait for the process to complete; it might take up to a few minutes. After this, your drive should be accessible again.

Preventing RAW Partition Issues in the Future

All this hassle can be avoided by taking some simple preventive steps. These simple tips can help prevent your drive from turning RAW in the first place:

1. ✅ Always Eject Your Drive Properly
2. ⚡ Use Power Backups to Avoid Failures
3. 🦠 Secure the Drive Against Malware
4. 💾 Take Regular Backups

After all, prevention is the best cure!

Conclusion

Raw partitions can feel like a disaster, but as we’ve shown, your data isn’t necessarily gone. Using Stellar’s professional recovery software or getting help from an expert are your two best options in such a scenario.

The key takeaways are simple: stop using the affected drive, avoid formatting, and reach out to trusted professionals like Stellar for comprehensive recovery and repair solutions.