# My File System Is Now Raw... Help !



## wyerleader

I have an external hard drive with LOTS of music on it that is now reading file system raw with 0 used space and 0 free space.
It is a cavalry CAUI35160....160 gb 

I could not access it and on further inspection I find in properties what i mentioned
0 used space and 0 free space
File system:RAW

I cant find anywhere what the file system was to begin with,never felt the need to check.

I have found instructions on how to change the file system back to its original form and keep the data by using a program on partition magic and making 2 floppy disk to boot the system in PURE dos mode and changing the file system on the correct drive. BUT I have to know 100% sure of the original file system to change back to. IE fat 32,NTFS or some other....I am sure it is one of the later but how do i find out what it was from the manufacture.

Do all external drives come in FAT32 ? I notice all the boards i read people have said that there drives came in fat32 format,and wonder if this will cause them probs.but that is as close as i can come to finding out what this drives format was originaly.
Cavalry 160GB external hard drive CAUI35160 
Any help would be appreciated
Please

Thanx perplexed


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## Deleted090308

Hi,

Try this:
Mount the drive as a slave inside the computer and see if you can repair the partition table:

Download the Windows version of *TestDisk*.
Unzip the downloaded file to your C: drive and open C:\testdisk-6.8\win > double click "testdisk_win" (the program doesn't have to installed).

A.	At the first window select “No Log” and press the <Enter> key. 
B.	Select what drive to analyse, choose “Proceed” and <Enter>.
C.	Select partition type – Intel if it’s a PC.
D.	Select “Analyse” then <Enter>. The drive/partition will be analysed.
E.	Select “Proceed” at the next screen, then <Enter>.
F.	Press “Y” if the partitions were created under Vista – “N” if not.
G.	TestDisk should say “Structure OK”. Choose the drive/partition to fix. Then press <Enter>. 
H.	Select “Write” and press <Enter>.
I.	Press “Y”.
J.	Press <Enter> and close TestDisk. Reboot the computer.


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## Sara Andrew

Is the system indicates like this? :










A corrupt or missing boot sector will cause such kind of problem.

To fix the boot sector, you may refer to How to Fix the Boot Sector Problem?

If it still can not be solved, you have to recover all the data out and then format the partition as the system indicates so that you can enter the partition again.

How to Recover Data from Raw Hard Drive?

Hope this is helpful!:wave:


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## mcruz

Hi,

I tried your suggestion and I fixed my hard drive. Congratulations!!!!!!:grin::laugh:



Deleted090308 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Try this:
> Mount the drive as a slave inside the computer and see if you can repair the partition table:
> 
> Download the Windows version of *TestDisk*.
> Unzip the downloaded file to your C: drive and open C:\testdisk-6.8\win > double click "testdisk_win" (the program doesn't have to installed).
> 
> A.	At the first window select “No Log” and press the <Enter> key.
> B.	Select what drive to analyse, choose “Proceed” and <Enter>.
> C.	Select partition type – Intel if it’s a PC.
> D.	Select “Analyse” then <Enter>. The drive/partition will be analysed.
> E.	Select “Proceed” at the next screen, then <Enter>.
> F.	Press “Y” if the partitions were created under Vista – “N” if not.
> G.	TestDisk should say “Structure OK”. Choose the drive/partition to fix. Then press <Enter>.
> H.	Select “Write” and press <Enter>.
> I.	Press “Y”.
> J.	Press <Enter> and close TestDisk. Reboot the computer.


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## donnymccoy

Just wanted to update this thread to let people know that the TestDisk solution still works. I encountered this issue when trying to do a clean install of Windows 7 HP on a drive with Vista. Technically not an upgrade; but still had issues. Lost my partitions upon rebooting back into Vista (after failed Win 7 reboot loop) and TestDisk fixed them. Kudos to whomever first posted this solution!

Regards,

Donny


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## kondoril

Thank you for this tip.
It worked for me too.


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## Cloudcjs

http://www.rawfilesystem.com/

This might have solution to your problem.

RAW file system is not a windows normal file system, it is an error.

And here are some error that is related with raw drive like:
drive is not formatted
chkdsk is not available for raw disk
disk cannot be formatted


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