RAW File System, can't recover from any software

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Hello,
I have a 6 months old WD green 1 tb hard drive and it changed its file system to RAW. I also have an SSD for boot and I use the WD Green for programs, movies, pictures... On the drive there are my family photos all the way from 2004 when we got our first digital camera, so these are REALLY IMPORTANT.
I had the idea to make an Ubuntu server out of my old computer. I installed it on an old samsung 750GB hard drive. I wanted to have all my movies and photos on the server, so I can access it from every computer in the house. So I disconnected the WD Green (I turned off the computer and unpluged it from the wall) and connected it to my Ubuntu server. I couldn't access it. There was some sort of an error saying that were still some config files from Windows or something. I tought that it didn't work only on Ubuntu, so I installed it back to my PC. So that's when it happened.
So, when I go to File Explorer, it says that I have to format the drive to use it. Of course I didn't format, since I don't want to lose my files. I typed "chkdsk" to cmd and it said that it's a RAW file system. I checked if there is physical damage on S.M.A.R.T.; it said that it's healthy. I downloaded EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. I selected the hard drive and it scaned. There were some files shown, but only 1% of what I had on the drive before. I also used TestDisk. When I had to select the drive it was showing my 128GB SSD and another 33MB hard drive, which was apparently the WD Green. I was confused, because the hard drive is 1TB big. It also said at the bottom that if there is not the right capacity shown, than I wont be able to have a full file recovery. It also said that I have to download the latest OS pathes and BIOS.
That's all the info that I've got. I also read in a forum of one having the same issue, He just formatted it and made a file recovery and he got all of the files back.
I don't want to format it, because it's to risky for me.
Please help! The only game that I can play now is Minecraft!!!!
 
Solution
It likely had a miswrite where some data got stored on vital sectors of the hard drive erroneously. The first few sectors on a drive give the file system type and the location of the beginning of the NTFS file tables. If that gets damaged, it shows up as a "raw" file system. There are ways to get it corrected, but not without professional help.

You'll have to do a google search for data recovery services in your area and bring it to one of those. They usually do some pretty good work, and it's not too terribly expensive.

Once you get the data recovered, I suggest you get an external USB drive and some good backup software (not the free stuff) to do daily backups.
It likely had a miswrite where some data got stored on vital sectors of the hard drive erroneously. The first few sectors on a drive give the file system type and the location of the beginning of the NTFS file tables. If that gets damaged, it shows up as a "raw" file system. There are ways to get it corrected, but not without professional help.

You'll have to do a google search for data recovery services in your area and bring it to one of those. They usually do some pretty good work, and it's not too terribly expensive.

Once you get the data recovered, I suggest you get an external USB drive and some good backup software (not the free stuff) to do daily backups.
 
Solution


Are you sure that thats the only possible way. I'm still afraid that it's going to be expensive. And thanks for the fast reply.
 
Well, most places will evaluate the drive for free and give you a price quote up front. All you have to do is ask them. Find out how much it will cost before rejecting the idea. Also, shop around a bit to make sure you get a good price.
 


So it looks like that that's my only choice then. I will ask my friends if they know something. If they don't then I will give it to a professional and chose your reply as the solution. Thanks :)
 
Appearing as RAW like it is often a sign that the drive isn't properly initializing and it may be in Kernel mode (no sector access). If you're looking for data recovery here's a few companies I might recommend:

www.datarecovery.com
www.data-medics.com
www.recoveryforce.com
www.datasaversllc.com

Or if you tell me your location I might be able to recommend one closer to you.
 


I live in Slovenia, so I don't think that you will be able. I looked a little bit if there are any close to me. There aren't many companies for file recovery in my country.
 
DFL (dolphindatalab.com) is actually a company that makes data recovery tools. I'm not sure if they actually do recoveries there, but would be worth asking as they'd certainly have people knowledgeable enough to do it.
 
I fixed it. Looks like that there was a write error. The system switched the hard drives cache, that's why it was displaying only 32MB. I fixed that with a DOS program and it was preety easy. Then I had to recover my data. From about 800GB of data, I only recovered 400GB. Luckily all my important pictures were saved. Most of the games were deleted, I anyway didn't play all of them. Thanks anyway for the replies.
 


I still use it, but from now on I backup all my photos to my home server. I think that it was just a miswrite and not the hard drives fault.