The RAW file system and its features

In the operating system series, the main file systems are FAT and NTFS. Among them there is also a file system RAW - this is an undefined system, found in the OS data lines. Its position is somewhat unusual, because in fact RAW is not a file system per se. However, RAWFS is built into the kernel of the Windows operating system . Its main tasks are to respond to application requests about disk volume sizes and file system designations.

Users sometimes face the problem that a section on a disk or a flash card is designated as a RAW file system. This causes a number of problems, because such a section can not function normally, but there were no visible violations. In practice, this means that the partition was not recognized by any file system driver that is standard for Windows OS, it is NTFS or FAT. Typically, this may indicate that the disk partition is not formatted as needed, or the file system structure of the particular disk has been corrupted.

In such a situation, it is impossible to perform standard operations on working with disk partitions, such as error checking by means of OS, defragmentation, and also assigning a volume label, which is necessary for starting the standard operation in the operating system of the Windows NT line.

Although even in this case everything else can be normal, no obvious traces of errors. The RAW file system can denote the type of disk and its size, but when accessing it, it will most likely be suggested to format it. This phenomenon is not very common, but usually causes people some difficulties, because they do not know what to do next. Naturally, you need to return your disk to the working state when it can respond to commands and perform a standard set of actions, and without this it remains useless.

Probable causes of the error

While the computer is working, sometimes failures occur, if at that time the work with a particular disk was happening, then such a failure can be reflected on it, as a result of which it turns out that the file system has been corrupted. After that standard Windows tools will not be able to detect it, the drivers will not react to the connection of the new partition, so the detection operation will stop at the very first stage, when the disk is assigned the RAW file system, which is actually intended to determine other systems.

Sometimes the cause can be the impact of the virus on the operating system, and when a flash drive is connected, the malicious program switches to it and damages the FS.

The specific reasons for errors, which most likely lead to the fact that the disk will be marked as a RAW file system:

- Add due to faults of incorrect values in the table sections,

- detected corruption in the boot sector of the file system (although the remaining structures are not touched),

- damage to the main file tables MFT and MBR,

- Also RAW can be displayed during formatting.

In addition, in some cases RAW can mean a very specific working volume, but formatted in another operating system. It will not work in Windows, but it will work fine in another OS. Some DVRs create their own partitions on disks and file systems that are incorrectly displayed in Windows. At the time of volume encryption, the system can also mark it as RAW. The types of file systems in this case can be different, but it's most convenient to limit oneself to the standard ones for Windows OS.

The solution to the problem, if it really exists, is usually to format it. The operating system itself will offer to restore the normal operation of the disk, however, this means the loss of data on it, so you can additionally try to use programs for data recovery.