Disk Partition Recovery - Aviation and Computer Notes

There are several ways to save files from the RAW file system:
2. Using Check Disk utility
3. Using the TestDisk program

How to recover a disk partition?

It doesn't matter what kind of drive it is: a computer hard drive, a portable USB hard drive or a USB flash drive. The cause of the failure can most often be viruses. In this case, when you try to open a Windows disk, it reports some regrettable information that cannot in any way please, for example: " The disk in the device [drive letter] is not formatted. Do you want to format it? "

If the disk file system is recognized as RAW, data reading, labeling of the volume, and other operations with this partition (for example, defragmentation or checking for errors) become impossible. At the same time, the operating system displays the size of the partition and when accessing it, offers to format it:

If you are faced with a similar situation, then in any case do not click " Yes ", if the disk contains the necessary files. After formatting them, of course, you can also restore them with the help of professionals or specialized software for file recovery, but the probability of success may decrease, and still it is better to do it from the very beginning.

If you look at the properties of this flash drive, you can see its size zero and the RAW file system:

RAW is the designation for an undefined file system in the operating systems of the Microsoft Windows NT line. In fact, RAW is not a file system, and defining a file system for a partition as RAW means that the partition was not recognized by any of the installed file system drivers (for example, FAT or NTFS). This usually means that the partition is not formatted or the file system structure is damaged.

RAW file system is a file system type of a logical disk defined by the operating system (and other programs) with partial disruptions in the file system structure, such as, for example, FAT or NTFS.
Possible reasons for defining a file system as RAW :

Damage to the file system structure occurs as a result of failures in the computer or programs, as well as due to the activity of various kinds of malicious programs. The following damages can be identified:

incorrect values for the partition in the partition table (for example, in the MBR);
partial destruction in the boot sector of the file system;
destruction in the area of the MFT main file table (for the NTFS file system);
while formatting a partition, the file system may be displayed as RAW.

One possible reason is to write erroneous data to the boot sector or to the MFT. In case most of the file system structures remain intact, it is likely that the file system will be restored.

If you look at the zero (boot) sector of the disk, you can see that all is not well:

Who is a maniac or a fairy, he can figure out and manually correct the zero sector. Not the fact that the first time it will turn out and you will not get anything extra. It is best to use a program that spits on the displayed RAW file system and shows all the files and folders on the flash drive in its interface as a familiar explorer.

There are several ways to save files from the RAW file system:

1. Using the program MiniTool Power Data Recovery

As a result, all files were copied to another disk, the problem hard drive was formatted, after which the files were returned to the place. This is the most reliable way if you are not fairies :). Details written about it here .

The disadvantage of this method is that you need to have enough free space on another disk to temporarily place all files from a damaged disk. Also this method takes quite a lot of time.

2. Using Check Disk utility

Open the Start menu -> Run -> type in the chkdsk E: / f line , where, instead of the letter E, your letter is the damaged disk.

Depending on the size of the disk (flash drive), in a few minutes the disk will be visible as a normal disk with the NTFS file system instead of RAW, and all the files are in place!

Attention ! This method is applicable only to flash drives and hard drives with the NTFS file system! If you had a FAT or FAT32 file system, then you will not be able to recover the RAW disk by this method.

3. Using the TestDisk program

If the first two methods are not applicable, use this option.

TestDisk can:

Correct partition table, restore deleted partitions;
Restore FAT32 boot sector from backup;
Rebuild (reconstruct) the boot sector FAT12 / FAT16 / FAT32;
Correct FAT table;
Rebuild (reconstruct) the NTFS boot sector;
Restore the NTFS boot sector from backup;
Recover MFT using MFT mirror;
Detect backup SuperBlock ext2 / ext3 / ext4;
Recover deleted files on FAT, NTFS and ext2 file systems;
Copy files from remote FAT, NTFS and ext2 / ext3 / ext4 partitions.

The problem is about the same opera described here: http://skalolaskovy.ru/helpful-advices/39-usb-flash-and-hdd/83-insert-startup-disk

and here: http://skalolaskovy.ru/helpful-advices/39-usb-flash-and-hdd/123-repare-flash-with-raw-filesystem

Do you want to format it?