When your USB drive unexpectedly turns RAW, it might seem like all is lost, but thankfully, data recovery is possible with the right tools and techniques. Below, we will guide you through the process of RAW USB drive recovery and show you how to fix the issue without losing your data. It doesn’t matter if your drive was manufactured by Transcend, PNY, SanDisk, Kingston, or Lexar—the process remains the same.
USB drives and memory cards that have gone RAW are tackled in the same way.
Key Takeaways
- Check Disk Management before anything else.
- If the files are important, recover the data first.
- Do not format the RAW USB drive if you still need the files on it.
- Do not run CHKDSK first. (It can help in rare NTFS cases, but it can also change the file system before recovery.)
- USB shows RAW but correct size – scan it with recovery software first, then fix or format it.
- Windows asks to format the USB – cancel the prompt and recover your files first.
- USB shows No Media, 0 bytes (or wrong size) – this may be a controller/hardware problem, not a “normal” RAW file system issue.
- USB is not detected anywhere – try another port, another PC, and avoid USB hubs.
- Save recovered files to another drive. Never recover files back to the same RAW USB.
After recovery, formatting is usually the cleanest fix.
Common Reasons Why a USB Drive Turns RAW
A USB drive can turn RAW for several reasons, and the cause matters because some situations are only logical errors; others may indicate that the drive itself is failing.
Here are some of the most common reasons why a USB drive turns RAW:
- File system corruption – improper ejection, a power outage during a transfer, a system crash, or malware can damage the file system metadata Windows needs to read the drive. This is usually more dangerous for the data than for the USB itself: the drive may still be healthy, and recovery chances are often good if it shows the correct capacity and you stop using it right away.
- Interrupted or failed formatting – if the formatting process is canceled, interrupted, or fails before completion, the drive may be left without a readable file system. The USB hardware is usually still fine, but the risk to the data can be moderate or high because formatting may overwrite part of the old file system structure.
- Partition table issues – damage to the partition table can prevent Windows from locating the volume correctly and make it appear RAW. This usually does not mean the flash drive itself is failing, and recovery prospects are often good because the original files may still be intact even though the partition information is not.
- Aging or failing flash memory – USB drives wear out over time and may develop unreadable memory cells. If those bad blocks affect the boot sector, partition table, or file system metadata, the drive can turn RAW. This is the most serious case for both the drive and the data because the condition may continue to worsen, so recovery or imaging should come before any repair attempt.
- Unsupported file system – a USB drive may appear as RAW or inaccessible when it uses a file system Windows cannot read natively. For example, a drive formatted as ext4 on Linux usually will not open in Windows. In this case, the drive and the data may be completely fine, and the main risk comes from formatting it unnecessarily instead of opening it on a compatible system.Understanding these common causes can help you take better care of your USB drive and prevent it from turning RAW in the future. However, if your drive has already turned RAW, don’t worry—we’ll show you how to recover your data and repair the drive.
Recover Files from a RAW USB Drive
When it comes to RAW USB drive recovery, USB recovery software is your best bet. One excellent choice for RAW USB flash drive recovery is Disk Drill.
Disk Drill’s powerful RAW scanner can recognize the file signatures of almost 400 file formats, and its deep scan algorithms can recover missing file system information to retrieve files from RAW drives even with their original paths and names (if that information is still intact).
On top of that, Disk Drill is extremely easy to use and packed with useful extra features, such as the ability to create a full byte-to-byte image of the entire RAW drive before recovery. You can preview an unlimited number of files, and on Windows, you can recover up to 100 MB at no cost, enough to validate results and to recover a lot of small files that are usually stored on a flash drive.
Here are step-by-step instructions on how to recover a RAW USB drive with Disk Drill:
- Download and install Disk Drill on your computer.
- Connect your RAW USB drive to your computer. Launch Disk Drill and select your RAW USB drive from the list of available drives.
- Click the Search for lost data button, then select Universal Scan if Disk Drill asks you to choose a scan type. This will start scanning your RAW USB drive for recoverable files.
Disk Drill starts showing recoverable files while the scan is still running, so you do not have to wait for it before checking the results.
- Click Review found items to browse everything found so far, or use the file type categories to jump straight to specific files, such as Pictures, Videos, Documents, Audio, Archives.
- You can preview the files to check if they’re the ones you want to recover.
As a rule of thumb, if a file opens in the preview window, that is a 100% sign it survived and can be recovered successfully. But if a file does not preview, it does not automatically mean the file is lost or corrupted. (Disk Drill relies on the viewers available in your OS, so some file types may not preview simply because Windows or macOS does not have the right app to display them.) - Select the files you want to recover and click the Recover button.
Choose a safe location on your computer to save the recovered files.
As you can see, RAW USB drive recovery is really a breeze with Disk Drill. That said, more ways to recover files from a USB drive do exist, although many of them require more manual work or technical confidence.
3 Methods to Fix RAW USB Drive
Hopefully, you’ve managed to recover data from your RAW USB drive. Now, you should fix the RAW pen drive so that you can continue using it to store data. In this section, we show 3 methods to fix a RAW USB drive.
Method 1: Use the chkdsk Tool in Windows
The first thing you can try when you want to fix your RAW drive is to make use of the tools that are built into Windows itself. However, this method will only work if your USB drive was formatted using the NTFS file system, and its first (main) boot sector got corrupted due to any issues.
In this case, the chkdsk tool may just be able to help you out:
- Press Win + X to open the Power User menu and select Terminal (Admin).
- Enter the command
chkdsk letter: /f, where “letter” is the letter assigned to your drive (e.g. chkdsk I: /f). - Press Enter to execute the command.
When executing this command, chkdsk will restore the functionality of the NTFS boot sector from the second (backup) boot sector.
Method 2: Use TestDisk
Sometimes, the built-in chkdsk tool in Windows may not resolve deeper file system corruption. If you find yourself in this situation, then you can follow the advice of Brandon Castellano, a robotics engineer specializing in computer vision, who recommends TestDisk.
“You can try TestDisk (free, cross-platform, and open source)—it works on almost all drives on a system, regardless of whether or not the drive is internal or external,” writes Brandon on Stack Exchange.
With TestDisk, you can search for missing or damaged partitions on your RAW USB flash drive and, if the partition is found correctly, write the repaired partition table back to the drive.
TestDisk can also copy files from some damaged file systems without repairing the partition table first. This works with FAT, exFAT, NTFS, but the file recovery side of TestDisk is fairly basic; we would not recommend using it as your main file recovery tool unless you are comfortable with its limitations.
The bigger catch is that TestDisk is a command-line tool, so it can feel intimidating if you have never used it before. In our full TestDisk review, we demonstrate the process step by step. You can follow that guide. If you are lucky, TestDisk may find the lost partition and let you write it back to the USB drive.
Just double-check every move. As we mention in that guide, TestDisk is unforgiving. If the files on the USB drive are important and you are nervous about making a mistake, recover them with Disk Drill or another recovery tool first. Then, if you still want to try TestDisk, there is far less risk: even if the repair does not work, you can simply reformat the USB drive after your data is safe.
Method 3: Perform USB Drive RAW Format Fix
The final fix, and if we are being honest, the one most people will end up using, is to format the RAW USB drive. If the drive is physically fine and you have already recovered your files with Disk Drill, formatting is usually the cleanest way to make the USB usable again.
A RAW file system means Windows cannot read the current file system structure. And in some cases, repairing that structure is either not possible or not worth the risk once your data is safe. Formatting creates a new file system on the USB drive, so OS can mount it normally again.
To format a RAW USB drive on Windows:
- Right-click the Start button and select Disk Management.
- Find your USB drive and right-click the RAW volume.
- Choose Format.
- Select a file system. (For most USB flash drives, exFAT is the best choice if you plan to use the drive with both Windows and Mac. Choose NTFS if you only use it with Windows and need support for permissions or very large files.)
- Leave Perform a quick format checked.
- Click OK and confirm.
If the USB turns RAW again soon after formatting, shows the wrong capacity, disconnects during use, or fails to complete the format, do not keep trusting it with important files. At that point, the drive may be wearing out or failing. Replacing it is the safer move.
Bonus: How I Learned to Love the Eject Button (A Cautionary Tale)
I used to think that I knew it all when it came to using USB drives. I would plug them in, transfer files, and yank them out without a second thought. However, one fateful day, I learned the hard way why it’s so important to properly eject your USB drive before unplugging it.
I was working on an important project and had saved all of my progress onto a USB drive. As I was wrapping up, I decided to quickly transfer some files over to my colleague’s computer. I plugged in my USB drive, copied the files, and then hastily pulled it out without using the Safely Remove Hardware option.
To my horror, when I plugged the drive back into my own computer, I couldn’t access my files. In fact, I couldn’t even find the USB drive listed among connected devices in File Explorer because it turned RAW! After doing some research, I realized that by not properly ejecting my USB drive, I had caused file system corruption.
This could have been easily avoided if I had simply taken the extra few seconds to use the Safely Remove Hardware option. I urge all of you to learn from my mistake and always properly eject your USB drive before unplugging it. It may seem like a small step, but it can save you from potential data loss.
Conclusion
As we’ve demonstrated, it’s often possible to recover a RAW USB flash drive. We highly recommend starting with Disk Drill, a reliable data recovery tool available on both Windows and Mac OS. Its user-friendly interface and features make it an excellent choice for both beginners and professionals.
After recovering your data, you can then explore various free tools like the Error Checking tool in Windows or TestDisk to make the RAW drive usable again. It’s also a good idea to follow certain best practices, such as always ejecting USB flash drives properly, so that you never have to fix a RAW USB flash drive ever again.
FAQ
Yes, data can often be recovered from a RAW USB drive, but the chances depend on how the drive appears to your computer.
- The best-case scenario is when the USB drive shows up in Disk Management with the correct capacity. In that case, the file system may be damaged, but the actual files are often still on the drive. A recovery tool like Disk Drill can scan the storage area directly and find recoverable files.
- Your chances are lower if the USB shows No Media, 0 bytes, the wrong size, disconnects during scans, or is not detected at all. Those symptoms may point to a controller/hardware problem, which software cannot always work around.
- Recovery chances also drop if you formatted the USB, ran repair tools. That is why the safest move is to stop using the drive, recover the files first, and only then try to fix or format it.
To fix a RAW USB without formatting, you can try using the command-line utility chkdsk in Windows. Although chkdsk doesn’t work with RAW devices in most cases, there is one exception when the main NTFS boot sector is damaged; in this case, CHKDSK may help recover it. If chkdsk is not able to repair the file system errors on your RAW USB drive, you can try using TestDisk, a free and open-source data recovery tool that can repair partition tables and file systems on a variety of storage devices, including USB drives.
If you want to fix a RAW USB drive without losing data, the most important thing is to avoid formatting the drive. When Windows detects a RAW drive, it often prompts you to format it, but doing so will erase all the data on the drive. Instead, use a data recovery tool like Disk Drill to recover your data first. Once you have recovered your data, you can then use tools like chkdsk or TestDisk to try to repair the RAW file system without formatting.
