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12 April 2024  John Weaver  Senior Program Developer
 

Summary
Discover the techniques to fix a RAW hard disk and recover data from a RAW drive using expert data recovery software, effortlessly restoring files when the file system is unreachable.



Table of contents

table iconI. What is RAW? The reason why the hard disk becomes RAW
table iconII. Use Renee Undeleter to recover data in RAW hard drive
table iconIII. How to repair RAW hard disk?
Data Recovery from RAW Hard Drive

I. What is RAW? The reason why the hard disk becomes RAW

A RAW hard drive signifies that the operating system cannot recognize the file system, which makes files and folders inaccessible and renders the drive inadequate for data storage. To confirm this, right-click the Start menu, select Disk Management, and check if the hard disk’s file system appears as RAW.
how to quickly fix raw sd card
Several factors can lead to a hard disk being classified as RAW. These include:
● The hard disk is infected with virus and attacked by malicious software.
● The external drive was not ejected safely.
● The hard disk has bad sectors.
● The file system of the hard disk is damaged.
● Failed to reinstall or upgrade the system.
● The partition table is damaged.
When a hard disk registers as RAW—a format not recognized by Windows or Mac—its data becomes inaccessible. To avoid losing crucial information, it’s advised to recover the data using professional data recovery software before attempting to fix the RAW hard drive.

II. Use Renee Undeleter to recover data in RAW hard drive

1. What is Renee Undeleter?

Renee Undeleter is a comprehensive data recovery tool designed to recover various data files lost due to accidental deletion, recycle bin emptying, or disk formatting. It features four key modules: file recovery, format recovery, partition recovery, and image creation, providing a complete solution for data loss issues.
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Support Different File Types Photos, videos, audios, files, emails, etc.

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Compatible with Different Devices SD card, SDHC, SDXC, USB disk, computer, etc.

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2. How to use Renee Undeleter to recover RAW hard disk data?

Step 1: Download, install and run Renee Undeleter on the computer, and select the (Whole Disk Scan) option on the main interface.
Note: Renee Undeleter does not support scanning the disk where the software is installed. It is recommended not to install the software on the disk that needs to recover data.
select whole disk scan to scan disk in renee undeleter
Data Recovery Features:

  • Fast Partition Scan: Recovers files lost from accidental deletion or Recycle Bin clearance.
  • Whole Partition Scan: Retrieves files from inaccessible or formatted partitions.
  • Whole Disk Scan: Analyzes partition information and thoroughly scans the disk.
  • Image Creation: Generates a partition mirror image for backup purposes.
Step 2: Next, select the hard disk device that needs to recover data, that is, the name of the disk device where the RAW hard disk is located. After the selection is complete, click (Next).
select a disk to recover in renee undeleter
Step 3: Wait for the scan to complete. It will detect all hard disk partitions and prompt you with the “Select the partition you need to scan” window. Choose a partition for a targeted scan or proceed without selecting to scan all partitions. The latter takes more time but may recover more files.
recover partition on SD card with Renee Undeleter
Step 4: Preview files during the scanning process. After identifying all the required files, select them and click the Recover button to save them on an alternate disk on your system.
preview deleted mkv video file

 

preview before recovery

III. How to repair RAW hard disk?

Since the hard disk whose file system type is RAW may not be repaired by using the chkdsk command tool, we can also try the following common hard disk RAW repair methods.

1. Repair by disk error check

Step 1: Open “My Computer/This Computer“, right click on the RAW drive and select (Properties). Switch to the (Tools) option in the Properties window and click the (Check) button.
check disk
Step 2: Next, select the (Scan Drive) option in the error checking interface, then wait for the scan and repair it according to the prompts.
scan drive

2. Repair via disk management

Formatting a disk or partition via Disk Management resets the file system to a format compatible with Windows. This process can resolve situations where the hard disk is displayed as RAW. Adhere to the following procedure:

Step 1: Right-click the Start menu, click (Disk Management).
windows disk management right click start
Step 2: Right-click the hard disk whose file system is RAW and select (Format).
format raw disk
Step 3: Opt for the file system—NTFS is recommended for Windows—and ensure to select Execute quick format, then click OK. For a deeper understanding, delve into the characteristics and distinctions between FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT.
quick Format
Step 4: The formatting operation will prompt you to clear all the data in the hard disk, click (OK), and then wait for the formatting to complete.

3. Use the diskpart command to repair

Step 1: Search Command Prompt by typing (cmd) in the search bar on the left side of the taskbar.
Step 2: Right-click (Command Prompt) in the search results and select (Run as administrator).
run as administrator
Step 3: Enter the following command to format the RAW hard disk partition. Note: You need to press the (Enter) key after entering a command.

diskpart

list volume

(will list all partitions/volumes in the computer, the file system of each partition can be seen in the “FS” column in the figure below)

select volume 6

(select volume 6, because its file system is displayed as RAW, which is the target partition, please change the number according to the actual situation)

format fs=ntfs quick

(format the target partition, set it as NTFS file system, perform quick format operation, NTFS can also be replaced by exFAT or FAT32)

exit

The diskpart command formats the raw partition
Before attempting to repair a RAW hard disk, ensure it contains no important data to prevent file loss or damage. If the disk has crucial files, use Renee Undeleter for data recovery. Download the free trial version by clicking the button below.
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Supported devices SD card, SDHC, SDXC, USB flash drive, hard disk and computer.

Easy to use Recover data by 3 steps;

Multiple scan modes Fast partition/whole partition/whole disk scan;

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