If you are experiencing the “unable to format external hard drive RAW” error, you are in the right place. This article will tell you the possible reasons and how to fix it without losing data.
“My WD external hard drive show as RAW and it asks me to format the disk before using it. I click Format in the pop up window, but find it reports ‘Windows was unable to complete the format’. How do I fix a RAW external hard drive without losing data”
Formatting is one of the suggested methods to fix a RAW external hard drive and most of the time it works. But sometimes you may find it is unable to format external hard drive in the RAW file system. Worry not, this article will tell you how to recover data from a RAW hard drive and format it successfully.
You may be confused as to the reason your external hard drive becomes RAW. we have summarized for you the following common reasons:
To recover files from RAW external hard drive, you could consider using reliable Windows data recovery software - MyRecover. It can do a big favor for you.
To get started, download Windows data recovery software- MyRecover and install it on another working Windows PC. Meanwhile, connect the disk containing the C drive in RAW as well.
Step 1. Launch Windows data recovery software- MyRecover. Hover the mouse over the RAW drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.
Note: You can identify the RAW disk or partition through drive letter or capacity.
Step 2. The software will run Quick Scan & Deep Scan automatically and find all the deleted or lost data on the C drive. Once any of 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 the C drive and click Recover XX files.
Notes:
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 C 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 (eg: Word documents), date modified, or size.
The error “can’t format external hard drive in RAW” usually occurs in Windows Explorer or Disk Management. So if you are experiencing this error, try DiskPart. Here are two situations in the following:
Step 1. Press Win + R and type diskpart in the Run window. Then, click OK to open it.
Step 2. Type the following commands and press Enter after each line.
Step 1. Open diskpart in a command prompt window.
Step 2. Type the following commands and press Enter in order.
If you don't want to encounter this error and potential data loss, it's suggested to take some precautions. Here are some useful suggestions below:
If you still don’t have an external hard drive backup, you’d better create one with AOMEI Backupper Standard after fixing the “unable to format external hard drive RAW” error. It will include all the data on your drive and automatically keep track of changes you made on them later.
Step 1. Download and run disk backup software - AOMEI Backupper Standard. Select Backup -> Disk Backup. To backup only files, select File Backup instead.
Step 2. Click the + Add Disk button to select the external disk you want to backup. Then select a location to store them.
Step 3. Click Schedule Backup and enable Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event trigger or USB plug in backup option. Then, click Start Backup to backup the entire disk automatically.
Similar to can’t format external hard drive in RAW, you may encounter this error in File Explorer or Disk Management. If you are using one of them, try DiskPart to format RAW USB to NTFS.
Usually, in this case, you cannot open this Drive and access data on it. But reliable data recovery software like MyRecover can scan your data on it and recover them as much as possible. Please stop using it when you receive this error message.
If your RAW disk is write-protected, you could add the “attributes disk clear readonly” command to remove it before using the “clean” command.
The answer is yes. Reformatting a USB drive will occupy the “free” space of previous deleted data, that’s to say, your data does not exists on this disk completely.
If your flash drive keeps saying it needs to be formatted, it’s possible the file system of the flash drive partition is corrupted. Most of the time, in this case, the Windows cannot access, read or write on this disk.
There are many reasons for a RAW drive and formatting is one of suggested methods to fix it. But sometimes you may find it’s unable to format external hard drive in RAW. Usually, this error occurs when you use the format feature in Disk Management or File Explorer. Try DiskPart instead.
Besides, if you do not want your external disks to become RAW again, this can lead to huge data loss, depending on its volume and importance, you need to keep a good habit of using external disk. Meanwhile, it’s necessary to create an external hard drive backup and run it automatically to protect data on it.