The reasons why hard disk partitions become RAW, solutions and prevention methods
There are many symptoms when your hard drive partition becomes RAW format. For instance, the file system of the drive partition displays as “RAW”, or Windows shows error message like “You need to format the disk before you can use it”. In such cases, you will be unable to access the drive partition.
When any of your drive partition becomes RAW, you will not be able to access the data in such a partition. This article will expose the 6 primary reasons for this issue and offer you some solutions.
1. Reasons for hard disk became RAW ?
The reasons for hard drive became RAW can be caused by a number of reasons such as virus infection, format failure, accidental shutdown, power outages, etc. Here I will expose 6 primary reasons for this issue, hoping they can help you avoid RAW drives.
1. Bad Sectors: If there are bad sectors in the key area of the hard drive, the hard drive will definitely work abnormally, and RAW file system is one of the many phenomena. Check the health of the hard disk regularly.
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2. File System Structural Damage: As we all know, RAW hard drive is surely involved with RAW file system. Hence, if the file system suffers structural damage, hard disk partition may become RAW.
3. Partition Table Corruption: If the partition table of the drive is corrupted, the hard drive may become RAW drive. What caused partition table corruption? Failed disk conversion, file system damage, hard disk failures, etc. are the main causes.
4. Power Outage: If power outage happens, hard drive is likely to go wrong, leading to many hard drive issues including partition loss and RAW file system.
5. Improper Operations: Also, if you unplug an external hard drive or USB drive without selecting "safely remove hardware and eject media" option while the drive is still performing disk I/O operation, probably you will get a RAW drive.
6. Virus/Malware Attack: Virus attack or malware attack can damage the partition table that carries the partition information. Partitions that suffered from virus/malware attack can easily become RAW. Hence, it is better for you to run anti-virus software regularly.
2. How to repair RAW hard drive partition without formatting?
Solution 1. Use CHKDSK to scan and fix possible errors
CHKDSK is a common command that computer administrators will try to repair errors in hard drives and removable disks. By applying CHKDSK at the command prompt, the computer operating system will check and repair errors found on the RAW hard drive. If the error is successfully resolved, you will be able to access the files stored on the hard drive again.
Steps to apply for CHKDSK:
• Step 1. Click the "Start" button on the PC, type CMD on the keyboard, and then you will see the matching result.
• Step 2. Right-click "Command Prompt" and select "Run as Administrator".
• Step 3. In the command prompt, enter chkdsk H: / f / r / x and press Enter. (Replace H with the drive letter of the RAW hard disk)
• Step 4. After scanning and repairing, try to access the hard disk of the external device.
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Solution 2. Change the drive letter of the USB drive
In some cases, your computer cannot recognize the USB drive because its drive letter conflicts with another disk. To solve this problem, we need to change the drive letter of the USB drive.
Steps to change the drive letter in Windows 10:
• Step 1. Right-click the "Start" button on the desktop, and then click "Disk Management".
• Step 2. Connect the USB drive to the computer. If USB not formatting error appears, click "Cancel".
• Step 3. In Disk Management, select the partition of the USB drive, and then check whether it is assigned a unique drive letter. If not, please continue reading the next step.
• Step 4. Right-click the partition of the USB drive and select Change Drive Letter and Paths...
• Step 5. On the new screen, click Change …, then assign a unique letter to the USB drive and apply the changes.
Solution 3. Use a third-party repair tool
If the above methods cannot solve this problem, in order to restore the partition without losing data, you can also use a third-party disk repair tool. You should beware of unreliable ones.
Top 10 Best Hard Drive Recovery Software for Windows and Mac
Solution 4. Seek help from a third-party recovery service
If you can't repair the partition yourself with the tool, you can also resort to a third-party recovery service.
3. How to prevent the hard disk partition from suddenly becoming RAW?
We have introduced 6 common reasons why the hard disk becomes RAW. Among them, improper operation and hard disk aging may be the main reasons, which we can prevent and avoid:
1). The problem of improper operation is the most common:
When the hard disk is still performing disk I/O operations, unplug the external hard drive or USB drive without selecting the "Safely remove hardware and eject media" option, which may result in a RAW drive.
Because in the previous operating system of Windows, when writing data to a removable disk, the system first writes the data to the buffer area and then writes the data from the buffer area to the device.
This mode helps to improve the performance of the removable disk, that is, to speed up the file writing speed. The disadvantage is that if the device is directly unplugged, it may cause data loss.
Therefore, it is necessary to understand the correct operation and use, and develop the correct use of external storage devices. This can avoid most of the problems that cause hard disk damage.
2). Upgrade to use the latest operating system such as Windows 10, which can be directly and safely unplugged.
Microsoft survey data shows that only a very small number of users will click Safe Delete each time before removing the device, and most users simply unplug the device without clicking Delete.
For this reason, Microsoft provides a solution in Windows 10. By default, the external device write mode is switched to the fast delete mode with lower performance but higher reliability, that is, data is written directly to the device without caching, although the performance is reduced but the reliability is Will increase, so as to prevent users from always losing data.
That is, if the user directly unplugs the device, it will not affect the data that has already been written. It does not need to click the safe delete function every time the user can unplug the device, etc.
If you have any other questions, you can communicate with us at Ankmax to learn more.
