Windows 10: What is a RAW drive and how do I fix it?

I have an external WD hard drive that I have used for over a year, it is connected by a USB 3.0 plugable docking station. When I reboot my Win10 PC everything is wonderful (insert music here.) However, after a while, sometimes, and only recently, my drive act VERY STRANGELY as follows:

Whilst I can list directories and see all my files both by Windows Explorer and a DOS prompt. The problem is that I cannot open (read) the files. Explorer will show me file properties but has a problem understanding the file security, as seen here (for this example file named online.txt):



Furthermore, DOS sees the file but cannot open it as follows:


\
When first booted, a CHKDSK says everything is fine, but when the problem occurs, DOS reports it cannot CHKDSK a RAW drive (whatever that is):



What could be the root cause of this problem?

:)

 

External hard drive - back up

How To Fix: External Disk Drive Suddenly Became RAW

http://html5.litten.com/updated-how-to-fix-external-disk-drive-suddenly-became-raw/



( If you really have no other copy of the data... Which means you didn't have any backups. )

Before you do any of that, find a friend, family member, co-worker, etc. with a Mac and try using the drive in their system (OS X). Have a second drive with as much space as there is data on that old drive at the ready in case you are able to read it.

 

USB data recovery

The most thorough procedure I've found is here for
How To Fix: External Disk Drive Suddenly Became RAW. If it can be fixed then this is the method to try.

 

This might help. Not that I'm recommending, just providing.

How to Convert/Change RAW File System to NTFS without Data Loss - EaseUS

 

You can also use the Free TestDisk program. I have had the best luck with GetDataBack.
You will need another drive of the same size or larger to restore your files to.

 

In the normal course, a disk cannot show as RAW one time and not RAW at some other time. If however that "good at times" and "not good at times" happens here, I would straightaway suspect your dock.

You must post a screenshot of Windows Disk management

a) when your drive works normally as per your perception and 2) when suddenly you have a problem with it as you report.

for further analysis.

 

Was OoO, back again. Thanks, I will try all these soon. Reading through your solutions inspired me to go check my warranty on the drive. I found that my WD Red has just gone past expiration by a couple months.

I have ordered a replacement drive and will try your solutions to recover and transfer the data.

 

Tried this and it says it cannot read the partition info. Moving on to your other item and other responses in the thread. Thank you.

 

In the many years I have spent fixing PC problems for people probably 9 out of 10 times problems with USB drives are down to the enclosure or docking station and the drives, when tested by removing from the enclosure and connecting directly to a PC, are either fine or are after repartitioning and formatting. I wouldn't bin that drive just yet.

 

I have also ordered a new docking station. Glad to replace the dock and drive if that will help isolate the problem.

As noted earlier, this is a recent problem and the problem temporarily goes away when rebooting. The system works fine for a while and after some time (will try to track more info), the drive (or the docking station) acts "funny", where paths can be seen, but the file itself is not accessible.

Having said that, and having, ages and ages ago, worked at the driver level for an OS, I would LOVE to understand how the path can be seen, file properties be available, but content not be served up as if the file does not exist, when the problem occurs (first post). I would have jumped to suspecting the OS more than the docking HW.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. FYI, what I found trying out EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is that when the problem occurs, EaseUS ponders the drive a while and eventually reports 0 files found. When I reboot and the drive is acting normally again, EaseUS, Windows, and everything else thinks the drive is just fine.

 

Have you tried a new USB cable?

 

The new cable will arrive with the new docking station today or tomorrow.