Fix RAW Partition & Recover Data on Windows 7/8/10/11

Windows 11/10/8/7 users may find a disk partition inaccessible, and then notice that the partition file system turns into "RAW" in Disk Management. Typically, they also receive an error message when accessing the disk partition:

I couldn't access the RAW partition in Windows 7, and I received the error message when accessing RAW partition: "The disk in drive (X) is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?".

When a partition becomes RAW, running the chkdsk command-line tool in an attempt to fix the RAW partition in Windows may trigger an error message as well: "The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives."

This article explores two best methods to fix RAW partition Windows 7/8/10/11 and to recover the data from the RAW partition if the repair fails.

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What is a RAW partition on Windows 7/8/10/11?

RAW file system is not really a type of file system but refers to a state where a disk partition or storage device does not have a recognized file system. Simply speaking, it means the storage device is unformatted or corrupted so that Windows cannot recognize it, making the user unable to access it.

Here are possible causes of the RAW file system:

How to fix RAW partition on Windows 7/8/10/11?

Here are the two best methods when your disk partition becomes RAW.

Fix RAW partition Windows 78/10/11 via formatting

If the CHKDSK command-line tool fails to repair the RAW partition, formatting is the last built-in utility Windows users can rely on, as formatting aims to set up a new file system structure, allowing the partition or storage device to be used again.

However, be careful! Formatting processes also involve erasing all the data stored on the partition or storage device, so this method is viable only on the condition that you don't have important data in the RAW partition.

To format a partition via File Explorer:

To format a partition via Disk Management:

To format a partition via Command Prompt:

When the Command Prompt window opens, input the following commands and hit the "Enter" key on your keyboard after each:

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Fix RAW partition Windows 7/8/10/11 via a specialized tool

If you don't like to format the RAW partition and you wonder if there's a way to recover the data from it, a specialized tool is highly recommended.

iBoysoft Data Recovery for Windows is a professional and intuitive data recovery tool that can help restore deleted or lost files from HDDs, SSDs, USB drives, SD cards, or other storage devices, even if they are corrupted, inaccessible, or formatted.

Additionally, what makes this specialized tool special is that it provides Partition Recovery function to fix RAW partition and recover lost data from RAW partition in Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP and Windows Server 2019/2016/2012/2008/2003.

You can follow the steps below to fix RAW partition on Windows 7/8/10/11 via iBoysoft Data Recovery for Windows:

If the Windows 7 RAW partition cannot be fixed, please switch to the Data Recovery mode and then recover lost data from the Windows 7 RAW partition. After data recovery is done successfully, please format the Windows 7 RAW partition to NTFS/FAT32 file system. The Windows 7 RAW partition will be working again after the format completes.

Conclusion

Formatting is the most straightforward way to fix RAW partition Windows 7/8/10/11, especially when CHKDSK is unable to revert the RAW partition to normal. iBoysoft Data Recovery for Windows is strongly recommended for repairing the RAW partition if you don't feel like formatting. More importantly, this specialized tool can help recover the lost data from the RAW partition.

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FAQs about RAW partition Windows 7