
Sometimes it’s just a matter of inserting the disk (or SD card) in question into the computer that was used to originally create the files and folders on the device. The good news is that, yes, it is possible to recover lost or inaccessible data from a RAW partition. Is It Possible to Recover Data from a RAW Partition? You could click Initialize, however that would definitely erase all the data housed on the drive. What it is informing us is that the card has not been formatted in such a way that the computer is able to read the card. So when you go to read, say, an SD card formatted with the ext4 file system on a MacBook Pro, chances are good you’ll be informed the disk was not readable by the computer.

In some cases, it’s possible to have one system read a device formatted in another platform’s file system type. Linux machines use ext3, ext4, BTRFS, reiser, XFS, and more. On the other hand, macOS uses APFS, HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT (with read-only support for NTFS).
#What is a raw partition windows#
More often than not, you’ve simply removed that memory card or USB drive without having the operating system safely removing it first.įor example, most Windows machines use either FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, or NTFS5 file systems. You might insert an SD card into one machine that reads it properly and the next computer might not understand the file system structure and breaks the partition layout, rendering that device unreadable. Memory cards and removable USB drives are constantly being inserted or attached to different machines. Simply stated, a RAW partition is a partition which has not been formatted with the file system recognized by the computer being used.
#What is a raw partition how to#
What is a RAW Partition?īefore we get into how to recover lost data, it’s important to understand what a RAW partition is. One such route to success is using a data recovery tool on either macOS or Windows. So, you have to take action to gain access to that data. No matter the reason, when a partition becomes RAW, you will not able to access data on your drive and it won’t be usable until you format it.

Depending on your situation, this inability to access that data can be devastating. Have you ever inserted a memory card into your computer to copy or view a file, only to find that card inaccessible? This unfortunate situation can happen with any type of file system on memory cards, USB drives, external HDD drives, storage devices, and even internal drives.
