What a RAW drive is

RAW is not a file system. It is how Windows labels a partition when it cannot understand the file system on it. The data is usually intact – only the structures that describe it (boot sector, file table) are damaged or unreadable.

Common causes: unplugging a USB drive while it was writing, a power cut, a failing cable, or bad sectors in the first part of the drive.

What not to do

Do not format the drive and do not let Windows “repair” it before you have copied your files off. CHKDSK cannot run on RAW drives anyway (“CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives”).

Quick checks first

  1. Try a different USB port and cable, and avoid unpowered USB hubs.
  2. Open Disk Management (right-click Start) and confirm the drive shows its full size.
  3. If it still shows as RAW, move on to recovery.

Recover files from a RAW drive

  1. Open TEA-disk and choose the drive under ...or scan a whole drive. It is listed as RAW / unreadable.
  2. Click Scan for deleted files. Because the file system is not recognised, TEA-disk runs a deep scan automatically.
  3. Found files appear under $Carved Files, grouped by type.
  4. Recover everything important to another drive.
TEA-disk skips unreadable 4 MB blocks and keeps going, and zero-fills bad sectors instead of stopping, so a drive with a few bad sectors can still be scanned.

After the files are safe

Once your data is copied off, you can format the drive to use it again. If it becomes RAW again soon, the drive or its cable is failing – replace it.

Frequently asked questions

Will I get the original file names back from a RAW drive?

Usually not, because the file table is unreadable. Deep scan names files by type; photos often still contain their date in the EXIF data.

Can a RAW drive fix itself?

Sometimes a loose connection causes it, and a new cable or port helps. If not, recover your files first and format afterwards.

Get your files back with TEA-disk

Free, read-only recovery for hard disks, SSDs, pendrives and memory cards.

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