Partition Recovery™
An expert tool for recovering lost partitions
An expert tool for recovering lost partitions
Last updated: Sep 12, 2022

Having “The File System Type Is RAW” error on a hard drive? Fix it right!

This short article has all the information you need if your drive's file system becomes RAW and chkdsk not available anymore. Here you will find out:

  • what should you do at first
  • what would you need to solve the problem
  • how DiskInternals Partition Recovery can help you

Are you ready? Let's read!

About “The File System Type Is RAW” error

In many sensible guides to finding errors and fixing a disk, the chkdsk method comes first.

hard drive - the file system type is raw

This is really good and works wonders if you have a backup copy of the information from a scanned disk. But there are situations when, while using chkdsk, you can get a message similar to this: the type of the file system is RAW. chkdsk is not available for RAW drives. Unfortunately, chkdsk tool does not tell you the whole story and this error means that the disk is so damaged that this method will not help you in any way. The following describes everything you need to recover just such a badly damaged disk.

As a result, the window with the message “the type of file system is RAW” will disappear from your monitor screen forever.

What should you do first?

Oddly enough, restore files from an SD card, flash drive or any other external storage, where you encounter a file system type error. Convert RAW to your favorite file system.

What would you need?

To get rid of the message of "the type of file system is RAW", you only need 3 things:

  • 30 minutes of spare time
  • enough space on your hard drive or any other drive where the recovered files will be saved
  • DiskInternals Partition Recovery software (if you care about recovering your files in RAW storage)

Step 1. Restore files from the RAW file system

Data of any type can be found and restored using the software mentioned above: DiskInternals Partition Recovery.

The main feature of this program is that it restores the file system inside the program. In addition, scanning takes place in all sections of the disk, so the chance of overlooking some files is minimal. This program is suitable if you use UFS, HFS, NTFS, XFS, Ext2/3/4, ReiserFS, FAT12, Reiser4, and other file systems; that is, it is suitable for everyone. The recoverable disk can be of any size since DiskInternals Partition Recovery can find up to 1 PB of data.

The recovery wizard will help you through the entire recovery process. As a bonus, you can try the free trial version of the application, including the Preview function, which is also absolutely free for you. This file recovery option is ideal and completely safe, as the best specialists at the company are always in touch.

You can turn to them whenever you need to and get the inaccessible information you are interested in. So, there is no doubt that this is the best option to date for recovering files from a RAW file system.

Step 2. Convert RAW storage with File Explorer

According to most users, converting a file system is easiest with File Explorer.

 If you have the file system type is raw error - save files and format the storage.

To do this, you need to perform only a few actions: Go to This PC. From all visible drives, select the drive that appears as RAW. You should click on the “Format” line. Then just click on the file system that you prefer. After that, confirm the action by clicking on OK. Wait for the formatting to complete.

Thus, a previously inaccessible disk will become fully suitable for further use and chkdsk will be available for an ex-RAW drive! There are other good methods, and perhaps in your case, they will be preferable. You can find them here.

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