💡 This article is written by humans, with all solutions and steps verified.
In daily use, our hard drive, partition, memory card, and USB stick may experience more or less malfunctions. Among them, the most common symptom is "You need to format the disk before you can use it" or "There is no disk in the drive." If you encounter such issues, you may see the error message "The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives" when attempting to run CHKDSK on this storage device. At this point, do you feel disappointed and even more worried about losing some important files forever?
In reality, there are numerous solutions available. Here, we will explain the reasons behind this error and guide you on how to restore it to its previous state without losing data. Furthermore, you will also learn more about the usage of CHKDSK.
First, you should know that CHKDSK is used to detect and repair file system errors (such as NTFS, FAT32/16, and exFAT) and bad sectors on the hard drive. However, the prerequisite for it to work is that the storage device's file system must be recognized by Windows. Coincidentally, as its name suggests, the RAW drive refers to a storage device that the operating system cannot recognize as having a valid file system.
Simply put, its file system is corrupted, missing, or unrecognizable. Upon reading this, you might wonder, “What causes this?” The following are some ones.
Although there are still many reasons that can cause your drive's file system to become RAW, fortunately, this will not affect the data within it. Therefore, even in the worst-case scenario, the following solutions can still help you recover your files.
Once we understand the root cause of this error, which lies in the fact that its file system cannot be recognized and the reasons behind it, resolving this issue will become quite simple. Below are the commonly used methods, but please make sure to check their applicability before proceeding.
The communication between a computer and external storage devices, such as USB drives, SD cards, or external hard drives, relies on a stable physical connection. When there is poor contact or looseness, even if the file system of the disk is intact, it can cause the computer to fail to read the relevant information completely, thus mistakenly determining it as "RAW". For removable storage media, although the "check disk is not available for raw drives" error caused by such situations is not common, we recommend that you replace the USB port/connector or test it on another computer before attempting the following solutions to see if the same problem still occurs. Maybe the problem is solved!
Note: If this error occurs when you run CHKDSK on a specific partition of an external hard drive, then please skip this troubleshooting method, because the connection issue typically affects the entire storage device.
Do you want to format the drive immediately when you see the “CHKDSK is Not Available for RAW Drive” error message? Though it is the simplest and quickest way to solve the problem, but you have to bear the consequences that formatting will erase all data from the disk. Of course, if the disk is already empty or contains no important files, formatting the raw file system to NTFS, FAT, or a similar format could be the right way. Here are the steps.
Accidentally formatted a hard drive partition? Here is a guide on how to recover files after a quick format.
When there are files you need in the RAW drive, utilizing the "Previous Versions" feature to restore it to a previous state is an ideal solution, but this requires you to choose this drive before creating system backups or enabling file history. If you had done so, then follow the steps below to solve the problem "Check Disk not available for RAW drives" without third-party software.
If no previous versions of the drive are available and you wish to resolve the "CHKDSK is not available for raw drives" error without losing data, you can also rely on professional tools. These tools can facilitate a structural recovery by analyzing the file system metadata to repair errors in the partition table, boot sector, Master File Table (MFT), or even reconstruct the file system. There are numerous such programs available online; we’d like to recommend the best two according to our testing results.
We suggest that you try iBeesoft Disk Partition Wizard first. It is a comprehensive disk partition management tool designed specifically for individual users. Though, as its name suggests, it is particularly good at resizing partitions and converting or cloning disks, it is highly effective at resolving file system errors in most scenarios. The drawback is that iBeesoft Disk Partition Wizard only works on hard disks whose file systems are compatible with Windows. Therefore, if the drive in RAW previously used the HFS+ or APFS file system, please proceed to the next recommended tool.
TestDisk is an open-source tool that was primarily designed to recover deleted or lost partitions as well as repair a RAW drive caused by corrupted boot sectors. The reason why we chose TestDisk as the second tool to repair "CHKDSK not available for RAW drives" is that, in actual testing, it can damage the data in this storage device in certain situations. Therefore, if there are important files in the RAW drive, we suggest you try the next solution just in case.
The above-mentioned repair tools may prove useless when the drive's file system is severely damaged. If so, you must consider a different approach. Since you can’t repair the drive by running CHKDSK without losing data, why not recover data from the RAW drive first, then reset its file system to normal by formatting? It is simpler, isn’t it?
Nowadays, most data recovery programs can bypass the file system and scan its physical sectors to retrieve files directly. iBeesoft Free Data Recovery is such a great tool. As its name suggests, it is not only free to use but also capable of reconstructing file fragments, which is particularly useful for rescuing data from a damaged file system on a hard drive.
Although CHKDSK cannot run on RAW drives, it is undeniable that it remains capable of repairing disk errors in most situations. Therefore, it is essential to understand the usefulness of the different commands with CHKDSK. Here are some common examples along with their explanations.
| Command | Supported File Systems | Description | Applicable Scenarios |
|---|---|---|---|
| chkdsk D(Drive Letter): /scan | All | Scans drive D for errors without repairing them. | Routine hard drive health check (first checks for malfunction, then allows you to decide whether to repair it). |
| chkdsk D: /f | All | Check for and repair file system errors on Drive D. | Prompts "File or Directory is Corrupted" when accessing Drive D, or appear error messages such as "I/O Device Error" or "Data Error (Cyclic Redundancy Check)" when trying to open files from the drive. |
| chkdsk D: /x | All | Disconnects the program or process from Drive D forcibly. | Error messages appear, such as "File in use and cannot lock" or "Volume is being used by another process," when running CHKDSK . |
| chkdsk D: /r | All | Scans bad sectors on drive D and recovers readable information. | It stutters or crashes when reading files. |
| chkdsk D: /b | NTFS | Scans the clusters on drive D: to detect errors and clear the bad cluster list. | Improves storage space utilization and read/write speeds. |
| chkdsk D: /markclean | FAT/FAT32/exFAT | Marks drive D as a clean volume forcibly | Runs CHKDSK automatically at every startup |
| chkdsk D: /spotfix | NTFS | Repairs error logs recorded in the D drive file system. It is frequently used in conjunction with /scan. | Repairs minor faults rapidly |
| chkdsk D: /offlinescanandfix | NTFS | Performs an offline deep scan on drive D and repairs errors. | Repairs stubborn file system errors when "/spotfix" is not workable. |
| chkdsk D: /sdcleanup | NTFS | Cleans up accumulated, no longer needed ACL metadata "garbage" in the D drive file system to free up space and optimize the file system. | Disk storage space has inexplicably decreased. |
| chkdsk D: /freeorphanedchains | FAT/FAT32/exFAT | Releases the space from the "lost clusters" on drive D but does not attempt to recover their contents. | Storage Space Cleanup and File System Repair for Memory Cards or Legacy-Format USB Drives |
Tip: If you think there are multiple logic errors for a hard drive, then you can combine the commands, like "chkdsk D: /f /r /spotfix". Besides, here are more CHKDSK commands you might want to learn.
As you can see, this article focuses on offering useful solutions to the "The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives" problem that happens when running CHKDSK on a hard drive. You can choose a solution from among them based on your specific situation. We are sure they will help you restore it to normal working status without losing data. However, you encounter the error message mostly due to incorrect operation or poor usage habits. Therefore, to prevent it from reappearing on your screen, please develop proper usage habits and run CHKDSK regularly to check its health.
Sure, you can! To improve the user experience, macOS developers integrated complex commands and made them accessible through graphical interface tools. The equivalent of CHKDSK in Windows on Mac is "First Aid" in Disk Utility. If you’re interested in learning more, check out this article on how to run CHKDSK on Mac.
Sure, you can. However, to do it, you must use a professional tool, like iBeesoft Disk Partition Wizard. It is very simple to use: you just click "Partition Rescue" in the sidebar, select the drive with a RAW file system, and follow the on-screen instructions. The conversion may fail when the file system is severely damaged. Don’t worry! If it fails, you can use iBeesoft Data Recovery to recover all files from this disk first before formatting it to a normal file system.
No. CHKDSK can’t access or scan network drives due to insufficient permissions or security protections. Besides, it can also not be used for virtual drives created by the SUBST command.
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