How to recover files from a RAW drive?

Data Recovery
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First off, sorry to hear about your situation. A RAW drive usually means there’s something wrong with the file system, making the data unreadable by your OS. There are a few steps you can follow to attempt a recovery, and it’s good practice to start with software-based solutions before resorting to professional help. Here’s a guide you might find useful:

  1. Do not format the drive: Even though the system prompts you to format the drive, avoid doing so. Formatting will make recovery much more complicated and might result in permanent data loss.

  2. Use Data Recovery Software: There are several reliable data recovery tools out there that can help you recover files from a RAW drive. One highly recommended option is Disk Drill

    Disk Drill Screenshot
    Data Recovery Software.

Here’s a quick rundown on how you can use Disk Drill to recover your files:

  • Download and install Disk Drill on your computer. Make sure you install it on a different drive than the one you’re trying to recover to avoid overwriting any data.

  • Launch the software. It has an intuitive interface, so you should find it easy to navigate.

  • Select the RAW drive from the list of available drives. Disk Drill will then perform a thorough scan.

  • Once the scan is complete, you’ll get a list of recoverable files. You can preview these files to ensure they’re intact.

  • Select the files you need and choose a location to save them, again opting for a different drive to prevent overwriting.

  1. Check Disk Utility (Windows): You might want to try the built-in Check Disk Utility to see if a simple error fix can change the drive’s status back to NTFS or FAT32.

  • Open Command Prompt as administrator.

  • Type chkdsk X: /f (replace X with the drive letter of your RAW drive) and press Enter.

  • The utility will try to locate and fix any errors on the drive.

  1. TestDisk (Free): If you’re comfortable with command-line tools, TestDisk is an open-source option that’s often used for recovering lost partitions and making non-booting disks bootable again.

  • Download and install TestDisk.

  • Run the software and follow the step-by-step instructions to analyze the drive.

  • It can help repair the partition table or recover files from the RAW drive.

  1. Professional Data Recovery Services: If the above methods don’t work, or if the data is too important to risk, you might want to consider professional data recovery services. Companies specializing in data recovery can retrieve data from physically damaged drives as well.

A couple quick tips to enhance your chances of recovery:

  • Avoid using the drive: The more you mess with it, the higher the chances of overwriting the lost data.

  • Backup Regularly: A bit late for this issue, but moving forward, regular backups can save you a lot of heartache.

Let’s hope one of these solutions gets your docs and photos back. Good luck!

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