What can I do with RAW file system external hard disk?

C

CookKimoo0

New member
Hello, I need your help to fix my RAW file system WD USB hard disk. Recently, my Western Digital hard disk keeps asking me to format before I can access anything inside. But, I do have left much school documents there, which has not been backed up on my PC. When running CHKDSK there, a CHKDSK RAW error comes out and tells me it is not available for RAW drive. What am I supposed to do for fix this RAW format drive issues? Is that necessary to format this drive? What can I do to recover my drive files out without loss? Thank you for any suggestion!
 
pclab

pclab

Moderator
First, you should Image the drive to a good drive.
After that, you can try to recover with software, Like R-Studio, etc, on the donor drive.
 
Jared

Jared

Administrator
Staff member
For a WD external I highly doubt you'll be able to image it. Usually when these suddenly show as RAW it's due to the fact that they aren't able to access the data. This is often due to issues with the built in encryption that the My Book and My Passport drives use. If it detects any issues with decrypting the volume, it'll fail to mount and show as RAW. Can also be caused by a number of firmware bugs, and possibly even bad read/write heads.

A pro data recovery lab should be able to handle it, but you might not be able to do much without pro tools unfortunately. If you let us know where you're located we can probably recommend someone in your area.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top