How to fix 'the type of the file system is RAW, chkdsk is not available for RAW drives'?
RAW drive also calls RAW file system, RAW file system simply means that the file system is not recognized by Windows OS. Therefore all the available file system drivers are unable to mount the file system as a drive. This often happens when the records determining the file system type or location on the disk are damaged or corrupted, usually the partition table (MBR) or the boot sector (DBR).
Common scenarios of RAW drives
Sometimes a damaged volume may lose its file system type. Various error messages may appear, most common being:
The volume X: is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?
The disk in drive X: is not formatted.
The volume does not contain a recognized file system
Drive X:\ not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.
There was an error accessing drive X:. The disk is not formatted.
Chkdsk is not available for RAW drives
Chkdsk (short for check disk) is a system tool in Windows OS, it verifies the file system integrity of a volume and fixes logical errors in file system.
When the drive became RAW file system, generally speaking, we would use chkdsk /f command to fix errors on RAW drive, USB drive, SD card, external hard drive, then chkdsk reports: The type of the file system is RAW. Chkdsk is not available for RAW drives.
Anyway, what is wrong with the drive? There are so many important files stored on it, and a chkdsk tool will complain that it is unable to perform a RAW file system recovery; how should fix RAW partition when chkdsk is not available for RAW drives in Windows 10/8/7/XP and Windows Server 2016/2012/2008/2003?
How to fix chkdsk is not available for RAW drives?
Following are six solutions to fix chkdsk is not available for RAW drives on USB drive, SD card, flash drive, external hard drive and in Windows 10/8/7/XP and Windows Server 2016/2012/2008/2003.
Solution 1: Fix chkdsk not available for RAW drive with RAW partition recovery
M3 Data Recovery is a RAW partition recovery and RAW drive data recovery software which can solve "chkdsk is not available for RAW drives" issue by changing/converting RAW to NTFS/FAT32 without data loss or data recovery from RAW drive.
Step 1: Install and launch M3 Data Recovery software. After that, please select RAW Drive Recovery module.
Step 2: Choose the RAW drive which reports "The type of the file system is RAW, chkdsk is not available for RAW drives" error.
Step 3: Click Next to scan the RAW drive you want to recover or fix.
Step 4: After fixing RAW drive, please check the files in RAW drive before recovering.
Step 5: Click "Fix Drive" to solve "The type of the file system is RAW, chkdsk is not available for RAW drives", you will see RAW drive will become NTFS/FAT32 file system and you can acess data in it as normal.
If RAW drive cannot be fixed, please go to solution 2 and recover data from RAW drive with M3 Data Recovery software.
Solution 2: Fix chkdsk not available for RAW drives with RAW drive data recovery
Step 1: Launch M3 Data Recovery software and choose the Data Recovery module.
Step 2: Choose RAW drive and click Next to scan, All files will be found in minutes.
Step 3: Select the files you want to recover from RAW drive and then save them.
Besides solving RAW drive issue, M3 Data Recovery software can also fix USB flash drive not formatted, SD card not formatted, memory card not formatted, external hard drive not formatted issue and recover data from RAW external hard drive, RAW USB flash drive, RAW memory card, RAW SD card, etc. in Windows 10/8/7/XP and Windows Server 2016/2012/2008/2003.
Solution 3: Fix chkdsk not available for RAW drives on Bitlocker encrypted drive
If RAW drive was Bitlocker encrypted, M3 Data Recovery is also a professional Bitlocker data recovery software which can recover data from Bitlocker encrypted drive.
Step 1: Launch M3 Data Recovery software and select Bitlocker Recovery module.
Step 2: Select the Bitlocker encrypted drive you want to recover data from and click Next to continue.
Step 3: Enter the password or recovery key and click OK to scan data from Bitlocker encrypted drive.
Step 4: After scanning, lost files will be listed as below window, then select the files you want to recover and save them.
If RAW drive was encrypted by other encryption software, you need to unlock it before using M3 Data Recovery software, otherwise, M3 Data Recovery software doesn't have any option to decrypt the recovered files.
Solution 4: Fix chkdsk not available for RAW drives by reformatting
If there is no important data in RAW drive, format is the best choice, just right click RAW drive in My Computer (This PC) or Disk Management and then select "Format..." to reformat it.
Step 1: Right click RAW drive in My Computer (This PC) or Disk Management.
Step 2: Select "Format...".
Step 3: Select NTFS file system and then set other information (Allocation unit size, volume label, format options) about format
Step 4: Click Start to reformat RAW drive to NTFS.
If there is important data in RAW drive, just follow solution 2 to recover data from RAW drive and then reformat it after data recovery is successfully done.
Solution 5: Fix chkdsk not available for RAW drives using CMD
Before using CMD to fix chkdsk not available for RAW drives, please follow solution 2 to recover data from RAW drive if there is important data in RAW drive.
Step 1: Go to the start menu, type in "cmd" in a search bar.
Step 2: Right click cmd.exe and choose "Run as Administrator".
Step 3: Type diskpart to open the diskpart command prompt.
Step 4: Type list volume, press Enter, all the volume will be list.
Step 5: Type select volume n, press Enter, the volume you want to format will be selected.
Step 6: Type "format fs=ntfs quick" and press Enter. After format completes, the RAW drive will be NTFS.
If Windows and diskpart command are unable to format RAW drive, the RAW drive should have hardware issue, please try the 3rd-party professional format software or low-level format tool.
Solution 6: Ask for help from a local data recovery professional
If RAW drive has hardware issue, lost data is not found by M3 Data Recovery software or any other data recovery software, please send RAW drive to a local data recovery professional for help.