(Fixed) CHKDSK IS Not Available for RAW Drives | No Data Loss

CHKDSK IS Not Available for RAW Drives

“Hi Dear, I am Trying to recover data from HDD 400GB. I am using Win 10. It says 'YOU NEED TO FORMAT DRIVE BEFORE USE'. I have used a 'find and mount' software but no luck. Then went for cmd- CHKDSK /F, but it says ' CHKDSK IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR RAW DRIVE'. So could you help me for recovering data ?”

CHKDSK is one of the recommended solutions for RAW file system errors, especially for those users who don’t want to fix RAW drive with format, it helps to check the file system and metadata of a volume for logical and physical data. However, you may receive another error message “The type of file system is raw. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives”. Get the possible reasons and solutions below now.

What Does File System Is Raw CHKDSK Not Available Mean?

RAW file system, like NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, etc. is a file system, but it is not recognized on a computer and cannot be used to store data. If you use the CHKDSK command to fix RAW drive without format, you may receive “the type of file system is RAW. CHKDSK not available for RAW drives.”. Because this command only works for a recognized file system. If not, the disk will become RAW and you cannot run this command. Here are some possible reasons for it:

• The file system is missing or damaged.
• The file system of the drive is not supported.
• The drive has bad sectors.
• The drive is infected by viruses or malware.
• Sudden power failure or shutdown while accessing files on a drive.

How to Fix File System Is RAW CHKDSK Not Available

The file system is RAW how to fix it? There are two situations below:

• If there is no important data on the RAW drive, you can feel free to fix RAW drive to NTFS or other recognized file system.
• If there are any critical data, you need to recover data from RAW drive first. Because the formatting process will delete all the data on it.

Here we will take the second situation as an example. If your RAW drive does not have important data, you can directly go to Part 2 and change RAW file system to NTFS.

Part 1: Recover Data from RAW Hard Drive

The RAW drive is inaccessible and unusable. But you can use a Windows data recovery software - MyRecover to recover data from RAW drive, such as, internal disk, external disk, USB drive, SD card, etc in Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, etc and Windows Server.

• Recover more than 200+ file types, such as recover lost Word documents, Excel files, PPT, pictures, videos, compressed files, etc.
• Support two advanced scanning methods - Quick Scan and Deep Scan. It helps to find all the data on RAW drive, whether it’s deleted or lost.
• Filter specific files on RAW drive quickly with Type, Date Modified & Size and recover them as soon as they are found.
• Recover data from RAW drive with a high success rate and fast speed, keeping its original file name, format, quality, and path.

Step 1. Launch Windows data recovery software- MyRecover. Hover the mouse over the RAW drive, and click Scan.

Note: You can identify the RAW disk through its partition label. If it lost the label, you can see its capacity.

Step 3. The software will run Quick Scan & Deep Scan automatically and find all the deleted or lost data on RAW drive. Once any of the files are found, it will display in the following window. You can then preview or select them to recover immediately.

Step 3.  Select all the data on a RAW drive and click Recover XX files.

Notes:

• MyRecover will display the number of files to be recovered and their entire size. You can free recover files up to 500MB in total. To recover unlimited files, please upgrade MyRecover.
• Select a new location to store the deleted or lost photos or video files. Retrieving files to original location may overwrite the space of deleted data, resulting in data recovery failure.
• Except for Windows 10 or 11, it is still able to rrecover deleted files from Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, etc.

Besides, you still can use this software to recover files from formatted hard drive, or other data loss scenarios due to virus attack, system or disk failures, etc.

✍ How to recover specific files on a RAW drive:

In MyRecover, you could directly type its file name in the Search for files or folders box. Or use the Filter feature. You need to select file type, date modified or size. To make it easier, type a subdivision file type (eg: DOCX) in the search box.

Part 2: Change RAW File System to NTFS

Converting RAW to NTFS is the most effective method to fix a RAW drive without losing data and there are many ways to achieve this goal.

•  One of the recommended methods is to fix a RAW drive with cmd “convert D: /fs:ntfs”, but if you try it, this command will fail, saying the “CONVERT not available for RAW Drives” error.
• Another command is “format D: /fs:ntfs”. In this case, you will receive “The media being formatted has been removed or has become invalid. Format aborted. Format failed.”

Then, how to fix "The type of file system is RAW" on USB, SD card, external disk, etc? This article will introduce you to 3 other available methods. If the RAW is an external devices, you need to connect it in advance.

#1: Format RAW Disk to NTFS in File Explorer

Step 1. Open This PC. Right-click the RAW partition and select Format.

Step 2. Select the NTFS file system and click Start.

Notes:

• The quick format option deletes only the file system paths of the data on the selected drive. If you uncheck it, it will overwrite data on this disk with zero.
• You can also select any recognized file system based on your preferences, such as FAT32, FAT16, exFAT, etc.

Step 3. Click Yes in the prompt to start the formatting process.

#2: Convert RAW to NTFS with Disk Management

Step 1. Right-click on the Windows icon and choose Disk Management from the list. Then, find the drive labeled with RAW.

Step 2. Right-click the RAW drive and select Format.

Step 3. In the Format window, select file system- NTFS and click OK. You can also select FAT32, FAT16, exFAT, etc.

Step 4. Then, you will see a warning message, saying the formatting process will erase all data on it. Click OK to continue this process.

#3: Change RAW File System to NTFS using DiskPart Tool

Step 1. Press Win + R and type diskpart in the Run window. Then, click OK to open it.

Step 2. Enter the following commands and press Enter after each line.

• list disk
• select select M
• attributes disk clear readonly

• clean
• create partition primary
• format fs=ntfs quick (or format fs=fat32 quick)
• exit

Notes:

• M is the disk number of the RAW drive.
• The “attributes disk clear readonly” command is able to remove write-protection before formatting.
• The clean command will delete all the data on the RAW drive.

FAQs about “File System is Raw”

✍  Can you run CHKDSK on RAW drive?

The file system corruption is one of the cause of RAW file system. So you can try the CHKDSK command on RAW drive. But if the problem is it has an unsupported file system, the CHKDSK command will fail.

✍  Does CHKDSK fix corrupt files?

CHKDSK command is able to scan file system and metadata for logical or physical errors and fix any found error. If you lost any files on a disk, you need to use data recovery software like MyRecover.

✍  How to fix a RAW drive without formatting

CHKDSK is one of recommended methods. If it is not working, try to update disk driver. Besides, conflicting disk letter is possible. If the RAW drive does not have one, assign a new disk letter to it.