How to Convert RAW to NTFS Without Formatting (3 Ways)

How to Convert RAW to NTFS Without Losing Data

• 1. Locate and scan the RAW hard drive.
• 2. Find and preview found data in the RAW drive.
• 3. Restore and save RAW drive data.
• 4. Open "This PC" (Windows 10), right-click the RAW disk/partition, and choose "Format".
• 5. Select the NTFS file system and set up other necessary options.
• 6. Click "Start" > "OK".

Why Do You Need to Convert RAW to NTFS

When a hard drive/partition, external hard drive, USB/SD or memory card becomes RAW, you can't access and read the data on the RAW drive. You got this error because of the following reasons:

• If the file system suffers structural damage, the partition may become RAW.
• The disk or partition becomes RAW if there are bad sectors on a hard drive.
• The access permission to the partition is configured improperly.
• The partition table of the drive may be corrupted

Mostly, in this case, you have to format the RAW file system to NTFS and make the disk/drive reusable again. However, we all know that disk formatting will erase everything on the storage device. If you want to avoid data loss, you can first try to convert RAW to NTFS system with CMD. If this fails, continue using Qiling hard drive recovery software to restore files from RAW drive and then format it to NTFS without losing data.

How to Convert RAW to NTFS Without Losing Data (Save Data First)

In order to avoid unnecessary data loss caused by converting RAW to NTFS, before the formatting, we highly recommend you try data recovery from the RAW drive at first via Professional Deep Data Recovery within 3 simple steps. This versatile data recovery program enables you to recover lost files from internal and external storage devices after formatting, deletion, partition loss or damage, software crash, virus infection, unexpected shutdown, or other unknown reasons.

To recover data from a RAW drive:

Step 1. Select file types

Step 2. Select and scan the RAW partition

If the RAW partition contains a partition label, you can directly select it from drives list and click "Scan" to look for the lost files. If the RAW partition lost its label, it will be recognized as "Lost Partition", just select the "Lost Partition" and click "Scan" to initiate an overall scan on the RAW drive.

Step 3. Preview found data from the scan result

After the scan is completed, all available files in the RAW hard drive will be displayed. View these files and find the files you want to recover. You can sort the scanned data by file format or search directly in the "Search files or folders" box. 

Step 4. Recover data from RAW partition

Select all files and click "Recover" to get all the data back. Select another internal or external hard drive to save the recovered data and click "OK" to start RAW drive recovery.

If the data recovery software failed to restore RAW files, you still have a good chance of retrieving the data by using Qiling RAW recovery services.

The reasons for this issue vary in Windows 10/8/7. The solutions to convert RAW to NTFS are also different. Read on and change RAW drives to NTFS in different cases.

Method 1. Convert RAW to NTFS via CMD (Without Formatting)

If you don't want to format your RAW drive, you can convert RAW to NTFS with CMD. To save files from RAW before formatting, restore data from the RAW drive first. You can convert RAW to NTFS without formatting using CMD with the step by step guides below.

Step 1. Click on Start, then type: cmd and hit Enter.

Step 2. Right-click on cmd and then click on "Run As Administrator".

Step 3. Type "Diskpart" and then hit Enter.

Step 4. Type H: /FS :NTFS and hit Enter. (H shall be the drive letter of your RAW storage device.)

Now, your RAW will fix RAW partition without formatting via CMD. But usually, the CMD will fail and you will get the message "CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives." If so, don't get discouraged, keep reading to change RAW to NTFS without losing data. 

Method 2. How to Convert RAW to NTFS with Disk Management

After getting lost data back, you can change RAW to NTFS by formatting now. To carry out the conversion of a RAW partition into NTFS, follow the steps mentioned below.

Step 1. Go to This PC or Disk Management, and right-click on the RAW partition or drive, select "Format".

Step 2. Set Volume Label, File System (NTFS), and Allocation unit size. The default format option is Quick Format. Then, click "OK" to start the operation. 

Step 3. After reformatting, you can access and use the RAW file system partition or drive as normal.

Method 3. Convert RAW to NTFS with Qiling Partition Master

Another way to change RAW to NTFS is by using Qiling Partition Master. This partition manager software can help you easily format RAW to NTFS. What's more, you can cancel the process before you click Execute. This software also has many highlights that can help you greatly.

• Migrate OS to SSD or HDD
• Partition a hard drive in Windows 10/8/7
• Increase C drive space with simple clicks
• Wipe a disk or delete a partition 

How to Convert RAW to NTFS with Qiling Partition Master:

Step 1. Launch Qiling Partition Master.

Right-click on the RAW partition or RAW external hard drive/USB/SD card that you need to format and choose "Format".

Step 2. Format RAW Partition and reset the file system.

Assign a new partition label, set the file system to NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT, and cluster size to the selected partition, then click "Prceed".

Step 3. In the Warning window, click "OK" to start formatting your RAW partition/USB/SD/external hard drive.

Additional Tips - What Does RAW Mean

RAW data typically refers to tables of data where each row contains observation and each column represents a variable that describes some property of each observation. Data in this format is sometimes referred to as tidy data, flat data, primary data, atomic data, and unit record data. Sometimes RAW data refers to data that has not yet been processed.

In other words, RAW refers to a file system that is not formatted by the NT file system, such as NTFS and FAT. Many storage devices can run into the RAW issue, such as hard disk, external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, and more. You may receive this error with these messages:

• "You need to format the disk in drive F before you can use it."
• "The disk in drive F is not formatted. Do you want to format it?"
• "The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives."
• "There was an error accessing drive F: The disk is not formatted."

Conclusion

This article has provided you with multiple solutions to get RAW data back and convert RAW partitions to NTFS. Try them according to your needs. If you still have problems, never hesitate to contact us.

How to Convert RAW to NTFS Without Formatting FAQs

Here are some hot topics and questions that most people ask. You can get extra tips through these questions and answers. Read on to get additional help.

How do I change RAW to NTFS?

You can convert RAW to NTFS by these methods:

• Convert RAW to NTFS via CMD
• Convert RAW to NTFS by Disk Management
• Convert RAW to NTFS with Software

How convert RAW to NTFS without formatting?

• Click on Start, then type: cmd and hit Enter.
• Right-click on cmd and then click on "Run As Administrator".
• Type "Diskpart" and then hit Enter.
• Type H: /FS :NTFS and hit Enter. (H shall be the drive letter of your RAW storage device.)

How do I recover files from a raw partition?

It is of vital importance to retrieve data from a RAW drive before you take actions. All you need is a reliable data recovery software. Then, follow the steps below to recover RAW data.

Step 1. On Deep Data Recovery, locate the RAW drive and then click "Scan". The program will automatically scan all lost files and data on the RAW drive.

Step 2. When the scanning process finishes, find lost RAW drive data in "Deleted Files", "Lost Files" or "Existing Files". Filter and Search features also can locate the found files with ease. Check and double-click each file to preview them. 

Step 3. Choose the found files from RAW Drive and click "Recover" to save the items to a new location.

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