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Raw Data Recovery
When Windows says the drive is RAW, unallocated or uninitialized, the file system is gone — not your files. We scan the drive sector by sector and pull them back out by signature.
What a partition actually is
A partition is a section of a hard drive that is used for storing data. It is possible to divide a hard drive into multiple partitions to organise data efficiently.
When creating a partition, you can choose from different file systems, such as NTFS, FAT32, exFAT and others. In Windows, the default file system for hard drives is NTFS, while for removable disks it is FAT.
That file system is the index. It is not the data itself — it is the map that tells the operating system where each file begins and ends. Lose the map and the drive looks empty, even though nothing has been erased.
One drive, three partitions
- NTFS
- FAT32
- exFAT
- RAW
The operating system cannot recognise the file system
When a drive is in a RAW state, the operating system cannot recognise its file system. This condition occurs when the file system is either corrupt, damaged, or missing.
As a result, the data on the partition becomes inaccessible and regular file operations cannot be performed. When you try to open the partition, it triggers error messages.
In Disk Management the drive’s status will appear as one of the following.
- Status RAW
- Status Unallocated
- Status Uninitialized
Two ways back in
Rebuild the file system
With the file system damaged and not recognisable by the operating system, it is still possible to recover data. Using specialised tools it’s still possible the file system may be restored — which brings back filenames, folders and structure intact.
Scan sector by sector
If not, we can scan the drive sector by sector and look for file signatures, which enable the retrieval of Word documents, pictures, camera files and many other types of files.
Signature-based recovery ignores the index entirely
Raw recovery reconstructs files directly from the raw contents of a storage device, without relying on the file system metadata. It is typically used as a last resort when the file system is severely damaged or unavailable. The program does not rely on any of these structures.
Instead, the program scans every sector of the drive in search of known file signatures, as the usual structures providing file location, timestamps and permissions may be missing or corrupted.
- Word documents
- Pictures
- Camera raw files
- Spreadsheets
- Videos
- PDFs
- Email files
- Music
The trade-off: recovered files come back by type rather than by name, so folder structure and original filenames are usually lost. The contents are intact.
Drive showing as RAW?
Do not format it when Windows asks. The examination and quotation are no charge and obligation free.