External Hard Drive RAW: a Solution!!!
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marine.HaH
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Hello,
I'm posting this topic for those who might have the same problem as I do: namely, an external hard drive suddenly changed to Raw under Windows with no explanation.
In this situation, the external hard drive is visible in "My Computer" but nothing can be done; Windows indicates "Drive not formatted, do you want to format...?". When right-clicking on the hard drive and choosing "Properties": you can see that the hard drive is in RAW.
This post therefore explains how to recover the data on the drive when conventional data recovery programs are ineffective, then how to reformat the hard drive when you can't do it with Windows.
First, you need to download two programs:
TestDisk, for example at this address:
https://www.commentcamarche.net/telecharger/utilitaires/21721-testdisk-photorec/
Then Fat32Formatter, for example here:
http://www.fat32formatter.com/
DATA RECOVERY STEP:
1 - When you have downloaded TestDisk to your computer, there is no need to install it. To launch the application, simply open the Test Disk folder, then go into the Win folder, where you will find the "TestDisk" application: a double click on it will open it.
2 - Make sure that the hard drive is properly connected
3 - Open the TestDisk application: when "create a log" is highlighted, press "Enter" (if not, navigate through the program using the up or down arrows).
4 - Then you need to choose the right disk from the list provided.
5 - Then choose what type of configuration you have: on the majority of PCs, stay on "intel" and then press enter. If you have any doubts, inquire about your PC (it's very rare that it's not Intel).
6 - Among the menu displayed, stay on "Analyse" highlighted, then press Enter.
7 - A new page will be displayed showing the partitions immediately recognized by TestDisk. There may be only one, and the mention "No partition is bootable" should not worry you.
8 - At the bottom, there is an explanation of the meaning of the sign placed immediately before the type of file used (Fat32, NTFS...). Just below, there is a menu that offers "Backup" or "Quick search". (You will notice that every time a menu is highlighted, a description at the bottom explains what that action corresponds to).
Press enter when Quick Search is highlighted: Test Disk will then launch a first search for partitions: it may take some time: progress will be indicated as a percentage.
9 - If "read error at ....(series of digits)" appears: do not worry. However, if this mention keeps changing (the series of digits keeps modifying continually): there is a problem and Test Disk cannot read the partition.
In this case, do not worry: you need to stop TestDisk, try disconnecting the hard drive, reconnecting it, possibly connecting it to another USB port, restarting your computer, etc. Normally, it should eventually recognize it again.
10 - The quick partition search is finished: generally, it has not found a partition with this first scan. In this case, the menu offers to start a new search "Deeper Search" or something like that): when this menu is highlighted, press Enter.
11 - A new search will begin: it will take longer than the first one: if it takes hours, that is normal, you just need to wait.
12 - Once the search is complete, the partition is recognized.
You then have several possible actions, all described at the bottom of the window and commanded by letters. You must type P, which corresponds to "List Files": Test Disk will list all the files and folders contained in the partition.
Names starting with -r are files, and those starting with dr are folders.
Names in red are those whose locations no longer correspond to the content: that is to say, those that ended up there one day but have been moved or deleted in the meantime: you normally won't be able to recover them: you can copy them, but it is rare that you will get the expected files (this can happen if nothing has been written to that location on the partition: it is rare, but you cannot be sure). You can hide these files by typing "h".
Files in white are those you would have access to if you had explored with Windows.
13 - To navigate through the partition, use Enter to enter a folder or the right arrow. Use the left arrow to exit a folder or position yourself on the second line where there is ".." and press enter.
You now have access to your entire hard drive.
To copy files or folders, simply position yourself on what you want to copy, and when that item is highlighted, press "c". TestDisk will then ask you where you want to copy the respective file. The default location is the Win folder where the TestDisk application is located. If you want to copy them elsewhere (especially to another hard drive if you have a lot of data to save), just navigate through the tree structure presented in list form just like in the hard drive partition. If you want to copy them into the Win folder, there’s nothing to do but press Enter.
14 - When the copy is complete, "Copy done!" appears in green. In the meantime, you can do nothing but wait. Feel free to immediately verify after the copy that your copied file is indeed the correct one and not corrupted.
Do this for everything you want to recover.
15 - Once this is done, your data is recovered. You can close the TestDisk application.
If you want to know more about this software which offers many other features, see this excellent post by Romsk:
http://forum.pcastuces.com/sujet.asp?f=1&s=102819
Or also on Wikipedia, there are very interesting tutorial pages, most of which are translated into French.
Note also that the programmer of TestDisk provides his email address at the top of the program: to report an important problem or thank him...
HARD DRIVE FORMATTING STEP:
1 - The first thing to do is to try to format the hard drive with Windows.
For this, when it offers you to format the drive, accept and follow the instructions. It offers a quick or normal formatting: the former is preferred because the latter only serves to rewrite on the partition “empty” to ensure previous data is erased forever. Therefore, you should only choose it when you had confidential data.
Windows offers to format in NTFS or exFAT (a new format which is not FAT32 and that Windows tries to generalize for external drives: not really of interest...?).
In both cases, only Windows will recognize this file system, not Linux or a Mac.
If it doesn’t bother you, start formatting.
2 - If it works, don’t celebrate too soon: try copying a few files onto it, then disconnect it, reconnect it, try to restart your computer etc. If it works, that's great; you’ve saved your hard drive.
3 - If it doesn’t work (meaning Windows starts asking you again "Drive not formatted, do you want to format?"), or if you do not want to format it in NTFS but prefer FAT32 format, you will now need to use "Fat32Formatter".
4 - Locate the folder you downloaded, which is generally called FAT32 Formatter-EN: once extracted if necessary. Open it: you have the Fat32 Formatter application, which also does not need to be installed, just like TestDisk.
5 - A double click opens the application. A small window opens.
In the menu at the top, choose the hard drive you want to format: DO NOT GET IT WRONG!
Click once on the rectangle that shows the composition (partitions) of your hard drive: it turns green.
Don’t touch any buttons just below this rectangle unless you know what you’re doing.
All you need to do is check "Quick format" if you want a quick format, then press "START".
The progress will be displayed on the screen: normally it is quite fast.
6 - Done: you have a brand new hard drive on which you can copy your files.
Before copying them permanently, try disconnecting your hard drive and others to be sure you don’t have to start over.
Windows may tell you at the time of copying a somewhat large folder that "this file is too large for the destination file system". This is not a problem, it’s just that Windows considers that the FAT32 format only supports files of several tens of GB, which is false since most of the time external hard drives are already formatted in FAT32.
7 - This mini-tutorial may not work for your case: I simply explained what resolved my issue. I also specify that my hard drive was 400 GB: perhaps the FAT32 format is not suitable for drives of 1 TB or more...? Be informed!!
Good luck! Configuration: Windows Vista
Firefox 3.0.17
I'm posting this topic for those who might have the same problem as I do: namely, an external hard drive suddenly changed to Raw under Windows with no explanation.
In this situation, the external hard drive is visible in "My Computer" but nothing can be done; Windows indicates "Drive not formatted, do you want to format...?". When right-clicking on the hard drive and choosing "Properties": you can see that the hard drive is in RAW.
This post therefore explains how to recover the data on the drive when conventional data recovery programs are ineffective, then how to reformat the hard drive when you can't do it with Windows.
First, you need to download two programs:
TestDisk, for example at this address:
https://www.commentcamarche.net/telecharger/utilitaires/21721-testdisk-photorec/
Then Fat32Formatter, for example here:
http://www.fat32formatter.com/
DATA RECOVERY STEP:
1 - When you have downloaded TestDisk to your computer, there is no need to install it. To launch the application, simply open the Test Disk folder, then go into the Win folder, where you will find the "TestDisk" application: a double click on it will open it.
2 - Make sure that the hard drive is properly connected
3 - Open the TestDisk application: when "create a log" is highlighted, press "Enter" (if not, navigate through the program using the up or down arrows).
4 - Then you need to choose the right disk from the list provided.
5 - Then choose what type of configuration you have: on the majority of PCs, stay on "intel" and then press enter. If you have any doubts, inquire about your PC (it's very rare that it's not Intel).
6 - Among the menu displayed, stay on "Analyse" highlighted, then press Enter.
7 - A new page will be displayed showing the partitions immediately recognized by TestDisk. There may be only one, and the mention "No partition is bootable" should not worry you.
8 - At the bottom, there is an explanation of the meaning of the sign placed immediately before the type of file used (Fat32, NTFS...). Just below, there is a menu that offers "Backup" or "Quick search". (You will notice that every time a menu is highlighted, a description at the bottom explains what that action corresponds to).
Press enter when Quick Search is highlighted: Test Disk will then launch a first search for partitions: it may take some time: progress will be indicated as a percentage.
9 - If "read error at ....(series of digits)" appears: do not worry. However, if this mention keeps changing (the series of digits keeps modifying continually): there is a problem and Test Disk cannot read the partition.
In this case, do not worry: you need to stop TestDisk, try disconnecting the hard drive, reconnecting it, possibly connecting it to another USB port, restarting your computer, etc. Normally, it should eventually recognize it again.
10 - The quick partition search is finished: generally, it has not found a partition with this first scan. In this case, the menu offers to start a new search "Deeper Search" or something like that): when this menu is highlighted, press Enter.
11 - A new search will begin: it will take longer than the first one: if it takes hours, that is normal, you just need to wait.
12 - Once the search is complete, the partition is recognized.
You then have several possible actions, all described at the bottom of the window and commanded by letters. You must type P, which corresponds to "List Files": Test Disk will list all the files and folders contained in the partition.
Names starting with -r are files, and those starting with dr are folders.
Names in red are those whose locations no longer correspond to the content: that is to say, those that ended up there one day but have been moved or deleted in the meantime: you normally won't be able to recover them: you can copy them, but it is rare that you will get the expected files (this can happen if nothing has been written to that location on the partition: it is rare, but you cannot be sure). You can hide these files by typing "h".
Files in white are those you would have access to if you had explored with Windows.
13 - To navigate through the partition, use Enter to enter a folder or the right arrow. Use the left arrow to exit a folder or position yourself on the second line where there is ".." and press enter.
You now have access to your entire hard drive.
To copy files or folders, simply position yourself on what you want to copy, and when that item is highlighted, press "c". TestDisk will then ask you where you want to copy the respective file. The default location is the Win folder where the TestDisk application is located. If you want to copy them elsewhere (especially to another hard drive if you have a lot of data to save), just navigate through the tree structure presented in list form just like in the hard drive partition. If you want to copy them into the Win folder, there’s nothing to do but press Enter.
14 - When the copy is complete, "Copy done!" appears in green. In the meantime, you can do nothing but wait. Feel free to immediately verify after the copy that your copied file is indeed the correct one and not corrupted.
Do this for everything you want to recover.
15 - Once this is done, your data is recovered. You can close the TestDisk application.
If you want to know more about this software which offers many other features, see this excellent post by Romsk:
http://forum.pcastuces.com/sujet.asp?f=1&s=102819
Or also on Wikipedia, there are very interesting tutorial pages, most of which are translated into French.
Note also that the programmer of TestDisk provides his email address at the top of the program: to report an important problem or thank him...
HARD DRIVE FORMATTING STEP:
1 - The first thing to do is to try to format the hard drive with Windows.
For this, when it offers you to format the drive, accept and follow the instructions. It offers a quick or normal formatting: the former is preferred because the latter only serves to rewrite on the partition “empty” to ensure previous data is erased forever. Therefore, you should only choose it when you had confidential data.
Windows offers to format in NTFS or exFAT (a new format which is not FAT32 and that Windows tries to generalize for external drives: not really of interest...?).
In both cases, only Windows will recognize this file system, not Linux or a Mac.
If it doesn’t bother you, start formatting.
2 - If it works, don’t celebrate too soon: try copying a few files onto it, then disconnect it, reconnect it, try to restart your computer etc. If it works, that's great; you’ve saved your hard drive.
3 - If it doesn’t work (meaning Windows starts asking you again "Drive not formatted, do you want to format?"), or if you do not want to format it in NTFS but prefer FAT32 format, you will now need to use "Fat32Formatter".
4 - Locate the folder you downloaded, which is generally called FAT32 Formatter-EN: once extracted if necessary. Open it: you have the Fat32 Formatter application, which also does not need to be installed, just like TestDisk.
5 - A double click opens the application. A small window opens.
In the menu at the top, choose the hard drive you want to format: DO NOT GET IT WRONG!
Click once on the rectangle that shows the composition (partitions) of your hard drive: it turns green.
Don’t touch any buttons just below this rectangle unless you know what you’re doing.
All you need to do is check "Quick format" if you want a quick format, then press "START".
The progress will be displayed on the screen: normally it is quite fast.
6 - Done: you have a brand new hard drive on which you can copy your files.
Before copying them permanently, try disconnecting your hard drive and others to be sure you don’t have to start over.
Windows may tell you at the time of copying a somewhat large folder that "this file is too large for the destination file system". This is not a problem, it’s just that Windows considers that the FAT32 format only supports files of several tens of GB, which is false since most of the time external hard drives are already formatted in FAT32.
7 - This mini-tutorial may not work for your case: I simply explained what resolved my issue. I also specify that my hard drive was 400 GB: perhaps the FAT32 format is not suitable for drives of 1 TB or more...? Be informed!!
Good luck! Configuration: Windows Vista
Firefox 3.0.17
my 1TB Passport hard drive repaired in 1.5 minutes