I want to read existing data on a RAW formatted Hard Drive!

[spidermanalf]

It is a drive from a Hard drive recorder, I know it works. I don't want to get the data that has been deleted. I want to get the data that is there.

I want to be able to read the drive, as is, and take files off it!

I have run EASEUS on it and it found loads of stuff, and not one bit of it worked!

SO, I have a drive that is in RAW format.
I want to be able to read the files that are on it, as is.

Can anyone help me please?

I have access to WIN XP/Vista machines.
Thanks

Jonathan

 

[saint19]

Hi newcomer and welcome to the Tom's hardware forum

Try with Active file recovery. Or convert the RAW disk to NTFS. This link can help you, is the same process, but for fat16 and fat32. The problem is that RAW is an old file system.

 

[spidermanalf]

Hi Saint 19!

Thanks for the welcome!

I have tried that already, and unfortunately it doesn't work!

SOB!

Thanks anyway

Jonathan

 

[Paperdoc]

I see on the Easus website it claims it can read files from a RAW disk and allow you to copy them to a different good disk, thus recovering them, But you say that did not work.

I am not sure this will work, but it's something you can try for free and will not harm your disk if you choose not to go all the way. However, this is a software package you must PAY for if you choose to use it. The software package is GetDataBack in various forms.

Go to

http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

You will see they have separate versions for disks originally created with FAT or NTFS File systems. Since yours was on a non-Windows machine, you may not know which is right. Now, the straightforward route is you buy, download and install their software on a known good drive (NOT on the troubled drive) and then run it to recover data from the drive in trouble. It operates on that drive in a Read-Only mode that does not write anything to it, and any files recovered are copied to a known-good drive. Their FAQ screen suggests that, if you don't know which file system you are dealing with, you can try both systems separately and use the File Preview features to examine the results.

BUT the website offers a good alternative. They have free trial versions. Each basically operates as a complete full-feature version of the respective software and will completely analyze your drive and allow you to examine what it believes it can recover, even including looking at each file individually of loading some files into app software for examination. If you don't like what you might get you simply back out and nothing is done, and NO changes are made to your troubled disk unit so it can be subjected to some other tool. But if you think GetDataBack will do all you want you can buy it "on the spot" and it will complete the process of copying all the recovered files to a good drive, then leave you with an installed version of the software, fully licensed and paid for, on your good drive. So you can try out BOTH of the Free Trial versions, if necessary, to see if either can recover all your stuff BEFORE you decide to pay. Or, if neither works, you pay nothing and still have your troubled drive unaltered.

 

[spidermanalf]

Thanks Paperdoc, have run that. But teh drivw is in RAW, so after it has run it says 'drive not in FAT go away', well it sort of says that!

 

[spidermanalf]

Sorry about the spelling above! Cold fingers!