External hard drive turned RAW instead of NTFS Solved

Question

Hello,  here is the problem in the image, my external hard drive has become RAW instead of NTFS, so it is unreadable. In disk management, it was unallocated (black), I right-clicked to create a partition. Maybe I shouldn't have done that,  when I plug it in, I'm asked to format it. Definitely not, I have important archives...    Before jumping to data recovery software, is there another solution? Thank you in advance.

Sannin_WD · Answer

@monfab, hello and thanks for the screenshots :)  According to the information the screenshots show, the HDD (Disk 2) has a letter (G). RAW means that the data is raw, unformatted, and the HDD remains unreadable and inaccessible to Windows (for the OS). The reasons for this are never straightforward... unplugging without using the safe removal option is a possible cause. Since the HDD is in RAW, you might want to take a look at this article https://forums.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich-16244777-disque-dur-externe-raw-une-solution which provides ideas for data recovery.  It’s true that the options are quite limited in such cases... Nevertheless, apart from the alternative software we could use, there are instances where a chkdsk could be helpful. I've read people say that it remedied the situation. It should also be noted that depending on the damage that caused the issue, chkdsk may not be executable (there would be a message indicating this). If you decide to proceed with it, the steps to follow would be: access the Command Prompt as an administrator (click Start > Run > type CMD in the text box > Enter) > chkdsk #: /F/R/X (where # should be replaced by the letter of this HDD). @monfab, don’t forget that a repair CHKDSK (/F) will try to recover the data in damaged areas and if it fails, it’s very likely to overwrite them.  Sometimes a Linux Live CD could also be useful.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed! Let me know how it goes, please :)   -- ----- If you found the answer to your question, feel free to click on Resolved to help other members with the same issue ;)

monfab · Answer

Thank you for responding, I feel less alone and supported. After 21 hours of scanning with TestDisk, not much to see, see capture:  I validated enter, instead of T - T: allows you to change the partition type (FAT, NTFS, Linux...) Anyway, I have no idea if that was necessary or not, but I think I can do it again if needed... 21 hours already. I was in "none" mode chosen by TestDisk then tried again in the recommended "intel" mode:  Then...   Oops, no more captures!! Anyway, I need to retry   I'm tempted by a CHKDSK #: /F/R/X - /X Forces the dismount of the volume if necessary. The open handles to the volume will then be invalid. ??!  I'm looking into the live CD side...  Good night... :)   Suite...

monfab · Answer

Won!!  With GetDataBack for my NTFS case 2h30min of scanning and 3h of copying, amazing everything organized no corrupted files. This raises the question of storage/archiving .... What to do? copies of copies? how long? the cloud? ... Good night... (°!°)  Read more...

monfab · Answer

Saved !!  Cool !! !!

External hard drive turned RAW instead of NTFS

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