Cause of loss · corrupted & RAW
A RAW volume has mislaid its grammar, not its vocabulary: the structures describing the file system are damaged, yet the files themselves normally lie right where you left them. The corruption isn't what threatens you — the repair tools are.
Speak to an engineer about it
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| On screen | What that tells you | First step |
|---|---|---|
| You need to format the disk in drive X: before you can use it | The file system is unreadable to Windows — the standard RAW message | Don't hit Format |
| The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives. | CHKDSK saying it has nothing to offer | Stop pushing the drive |
| The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable (0x80070570) | MFT file records have been damaged | Open nothing more |
| The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable (0x80070571) | Harm to the partition or MFT structures | Copy it, then repair |
| Location is not available — X:\ is not accessible. The parameter is incorrect. | Corrupt file system, frequently with bad sectors below | Treat the drive as suspect |
| This volume does not contain a recognized file system. | No volume metadata left | Beneath it, the files remain |
| macOS: The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer | macOS saying the same thing, alongside an Initialize button you must never press | Press Eject, never Initialize |
As soon as it lands with us, your device gets its own case number. An engineer works out the fault, says what can genuinely be pulled off, then puts one fixed price in writing — no charge for diagnosis, no obligation, and no chargeable work until you approve it.
Every sector is copied before a single repair is tried — bad sectors charted, fragile regions read last. Damaged structures and dying hardware often arrive together, and the copy guards against both.
Partition tables, MFT records and boot sectors get rebuilt against the image, where a mistake is free and simple to reverse.
If the MFT is beyond saving, files come out of the image by signature — contents whole, folder structure rebuilt as far as the evidence supports.
You sign off a complete list of the recovered files first; only then does the recovery fee fall due. Everything returns on fresh media, postage paid, and the job stays open until you confirm the files open at your end.
The paradox of repair tools: the software everybody tries first — CHKDSK, First Aid, the free 'fix RAW drive' downloads — writes to the disk it is meant to mend. On corrupt but sound media that sometimes succeeds; on corrupt and dying media it regularly reduces a complete recovery to a partial one. Imaging first costs a day; repairing in place can cost everything.
Unplugged during a write one evening; by daybreak it asked to be formatted. A full image was taken, the boot sector and a broken MFT mirror rebuilt on that copy, and a translator's fifteen years of client files came back, folder tree whole.
A format lays a fresh, empty file system across the damaged one and destroys the structures we rely on to rebuild your folders and filenames. Refuse the prompt; recover first.
A volume whose file system Windows no longer understands — normally a boot sector, MFT or partition table that has taken damage. Underneath, your files are usually intact.
Not on this bench. It will not touch RAW volumes anyway, and on failing hardware each repair pass hastens the end. Run repairs against an image, never the drive itself.
Yanking a drive out during a write causes this more than anything else, yet the harm lands on the index rather than the data. It's among the tidiest faults to put right.
Powering a damaged device up again costs you data. Start a case first; diagnosis is free whatever you decide.