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Windows says I need to format the partition - should I?
Quote from its_alive on April 7, 2026, 11:03 pmokay I need help right now, like actually right now
plugged in my 1TB Samsung external this morning and Windows hit me with 'You need to format the disk in drive E: before you can use it.' I did NOT click format. closed it. opened Disk Management and the whole thing just says RAW. no NTFS, no partition, just... RAW.
there are 18 months of photos on that drive. client shoots, family stuff, a whole trip from last summer. none of it backed up anywhere else because I kept saying I'd get to it. classic.
drive sounds completely normal - spins up, no clicking, no grinding. Device Manager says healthy. please tell me not clicking format was the right call
okay I need help right now, like actually right now
plugged in my 1TB Samsung external this morning and Windows hit me with 'You need to format the disk in drive E: before you can use it.' I did NOT click format. closed it. opened Disk Management and the whole thing just says RAW. no NTFS, no partition, just... RAW.
there are 18 months of photos on that drive. client shoots, family stuff, a whole trip from last summer. none of it backed up anywhere else because I kept saying I'd get to it. classic.
drive sounds completely normal - spins up, no clicking, no grinding. Device Manager says healthy. please tell me not clicking format was the right call
Quote from shieran on April 7, 2026, 11:09 pmnot clicking format was 100% the right call. close that dialog every time it opens, don't touch it.
RAW means Windows lost its ability to read the file system - not that the files are gone. silent drive, healthy in Device Manager, shows in Disk Management but as RAW: that's a partition table issue, not a dead drive. disk partition repair from this state is very doable - when people come in thinking they need to recover a damaged partition it almost always turns out the data is untouched, just the index pointing to it is broken.
what happened last time you used it? power cut, Windows update, yanked the cable?
not clicking format was 100% the right call. close that dialog every time it opens, don't touch it.
RAW means Windows lost its ability to read the file system - not that the files are gone. silent drive, healthy in Device Manager, shows in Disk Management but as RAW: that's a partition table issue, not a dead drive. disk partition repair from this state is very doable - when people come in thinking they need to recover a damaged partition it almost always turns out the data is untouched, just the index pointing to it is broken.
what happened last time you used it? power cut, Windows update, yanked the cable?
Quote from gobbp on April 8, 2026, 5:27 pm...oh, pulled the cable mid-copy. lol yeah that'll do it every time. when Windows finishes writing to a drive it flushes metadata to sector 0 - that's where the MBR partition table entry lives. yank the cable mid-write and you can corrupt exactly that sector. Windows reads it on mount, finds garbage instead of a valid NTFS signature, marks the whole thing RAW. the file data sits way further in and almost certainly didn't get touched. what looks like a broken partition fix situation is usually just a broken index.
Quick check before anything else: open Disk Management and note the size it shows for the RAW block. a 1TB Samsung should report around 931 GB. if the number matches, zero physical sectors dropped off - hardware's fine, purely a software problem.
...oh, pulled the cable mid-copy. lol yeah that'll do it every time. when Windows finishes writing to a drive it flushes metadata to sector 0 - that's where the MBR partition table entry lives. yank the cable mid-write and you can corrupt exactly that sector. Windows reads it on mount, finds garbage instead of a valid NTFS signature, marks the whole thing RAW. the file data sits way further in and almost certainly didn't get touched. what looks like a broken partition fix situation is usually just a broken index.
Quick check before anything else: open Disk Management and note the size it shows for the RAW block. a 1TB Samsung should report around 931 GB. if the number matches, zero physical sectors dropped off - hardware's fine, purely a software problem.
Quote from its_alive on April 8, 2026, 5:32 pm...oh no. yes I pulled the cable. battery hit zero and I just grabbed it. 931.51 GB, RAW. drive is completely silent. so this is just the partition table?? also just about to run CHKDSK on it - is that the right move?
...oh no. yes I pulled the cable. battery hit zero and I just grabbed it. 931.51 GB, RAW. drive is completely silent. so this is just the partition table?? also just about to run CHKDSK on it - is that the right move?
Quote from zensoul on April 8, 2026, 5:34 pmdo NOT run CHKDSK. seriously, stop right there.
CHKDSK needs a readable file system to attach to - on a RAW drive, there isn't one. pointed at unallocated space, it tries to interpret raw sectors as file system structures, writes whatever it thinks it found, and you can end up with a drive that's been written to AND is still unreadable. The same goes for 'Initialize Disk' if that prompt shows up - that rewrites sector 0 with a blank partition table and destroys the entry recovery tools need to find your files.
The size check confirms hardware is fine. 931 GB with no sounds = partition table corruption, not physical failure. The safe way to recover the partition table on Windows 10 is with a dedicated tool or TestDisk - not CHKDSK. And to restore partition table integrity without touching your data, you need to scan before writing anything. There's a solid breakdown of why each of those options makes things worse if you want the details.
do NOT run CHKDSK. seriously, stop right there.
CHKDSK needs a readable file system to attach to - on a RAW drive, there isn't one. pointed at unallocated space, it tries to interpret raw sectors as file system structures, writes whatever it thinks it found, and you can end up with a drive that's been written to AND is still unreadable. The same goes for 'Initialize Disk' if that prompt shows up - that rewrites sector 0 with a blank partition table and destroys the entry recovery tools need to find your files.
The size check confirms hardware is fine. 931 GB with no sounds = partition table corruption, not physical failure. The safe way to recover the partition table on Windows 10 is with a dedicated tool or TestDisk - not CHKDSK. And to restore partition table integrity without touching your data, you need to scan before writing anything. There's a solid breakdown of why each of those options makes things worse if you want the details.
Quote from its_alive on April 8, 2026, 5:43 pm@zensoul oh my god. I was literally about to open CMD. you just saved me from making everything so much worse. thank you. Someone else mentioned cloning the drive before scanning - is that actually necessary? I don't have a spare big enough right now :/
@zensoul oh my god. I was literally about to open CMD. you just saved me from making everything so much worse. thank you. Someone else mentioned cloning the drive before scanning - is that actually necessary? I don't have a spare big enough right now :/
Quote from Vata91 on April 8, 2026, 8:30 pmgot a spare drive big enough? clone first. sector-by-sector clone = every bit copied to an image on a healthy drive. you scan the image, the original is never touched. if anything goes wrong mid-scan you just re-run against the image. Macrium Reflect Free handles it on Windows.
no spare drive? that's fine too - go straight to the Disk Drill scan. read-only scan on the original is safe. the only difference is you have no fallback if something goes sideways. order a spare drive now while the scan runs, you need somewhere to recover to anyway.
Macrium Reflect Free handles it on Windows. If the drive has read errors, ddrescue on Linux is what pros use - it retries bad sectors intelligently instead of just stopping. If you genuinely can't clone right now, a read-only scan on the original is safe - but order a spare drive now while the scan runs, you need somewhere to recover to anyway.
And this exact scenario - RAW drive, unallocated, format dialog - is basically the most common post on r/datarecovery. Every single thread ends the same way: don't write anything, scan read-only, recover to a separate drive. don't be the cautionary tale.
got a spare drive big enough? clone first. sector-by-sector clone = every bit copied to an image on a healthy drive. you scan the image, the original is never touched. if anything goes wrong mid-scan you just re-run against the image. Macrium Reflect Free handles it on Windows.
no spare drive? that's fine too - go straight to the Disk Drill scan. read-only scan on the original is safe. the only difference is you have no fallback if something goes sideways. order a spare drive now while the scan runs, you need somewhere to recover to anyway.
Macrium Reflect Free handles it on Windows. If the drive has read errors, ddrescue on Linux is what pros use - it retries bad sectors intelligently instead of just stopping. If you genuinely can't clone right now, a read-only scan on the original is safe - but order a spare drive now while the scan runs, you need somewhere to recover to anyway.
And this exact scenario - RAW drive, unallocated, format dialog - is basically the most common post on r/datarecovery. Every single thread ends the same way: don't write anything, scan read-only, recover to a separate drive. don't be the cautionary tale.
Quote from wehelper644 on April 8, 2026, 8:32 pmbefore you start the scan - worth knowing about TestDisk. it’s free, finds lost partition entries, and if it locates your old NTFS partition it writes a corrected partition table back in about 20 minutes. drive comes back exactly as it was - original names, original folder structure, zero file-by-file recovery needed.
ran it on a drive that vanished after a Windows update last year. found the partition in under two minutes, wrote it back, rebooted - everything just came back. I literally said ‘no way’ out loud.
that said - it writes to the drive, so clone first if you can. and if you’ve never used a command-line tool before, honestly, just go straight to the Disk Drill scan below. TestDisk has no undo, and picking the wrong partition geometry can make things worse. great tool, just not for someone panicking with no clone.
before you start the scan - worth knowing about TestDisk. it’s free, finds lost partition entries, and if it locates your old NTFS partition it writes a corrected partition table back in about 20 minutes. drive comes back exactly as it was - original names, original folder structure, zero file-by-file recovery needed.
ran it on a drive that vanished after a Windows update last year. found the partition in under two minutes, wrote it back, rebooted - everything just came back. I literally said ‘no way’ out loud.
that said - it writes to the drive, so clone first if you can. and if you’ve never used a command-line tool before, honestly, just go straight to the Disk Drill scan below. TestDisk has no undo, and picking the wrong partition geometry can make things worse. great tool, just not for someone panicking with no clone.
Quote from miconos on April 8, 2026, 8:38 pmso the two paths: if you cloned, try TestDisk on the clone first - free, 20 mins, gives you back the original structure. if it can’t find the partition, fall back to Disk Drill. if you didn’t clone - go straight to Disk Drill scan below, TestDisk later once the data is safe.
so the two paths: if you cloned, try TestDisk on the clone first - free, 20 mins, gives you back the original structure. if it can’t find the partition, fall back to Disk Drill. if you didn’t clone - go straight to Disk Drill scan below, TestDisk later once the data is safe.
Quote from AlexR on April 8, 2026, 8:48 pmOkay, here's the actual process. Disk Drill is what I'd use - it handles RAW drives well, previews work before you pay a cent, and the scan is completely read-only. It's not the only option, but it's the one I've used for this exact scenario. Here's what to do:
If you made a clone with Macrium, load it via 'Attach disk image...' at the bottom of the main screen. If not, just scan the drive directly.
- Install Disk Drill on your system drive or a USB stick. Not on the Samsung - don't touch that drive at all.
- Open it and find the physical Samsung disk under Storage Devices. Select the top-level hardware entry, not any volume listed under it. On a RAW drive, the volume might not even show up.
- Hit 'Search for lost data' - full scan, not quick scan. Quick scan relies on the file system being partially readable, which yours isn't. Full scan reads raw sectors and rebuilds file signatures from scratch.
- Leave it alone until it hits 100%. On 1TB over USB 3.0 expect 1-3 hours. Files populate in real time, but do NOT stop it early.
- Click 'Review found items' when it finishes. Left panel splits by type: Pictures, Documents, Videos, Archives. Go straight to the categories you care about.
- Preview before recovering anything. Click a file and confirm it actually opens. A filename in the list means nothing - a file that opens correctly means the data sectors are intact. Most important step.
- Select everything, click Recover, and pick a completely separate drive. Not the Samsung. Not a drive that's almost full. Somewhere fresh.
Okay, here's the actual process. Disk Drill is what I'd use - it handles RAW drives well, previews work before you pay a cent, and the scan is completely read-only. It's not the only option, but it's the one I've used for this exact scenario. Here's what to do:
If you made a clone with Macrium, load it via 'Attach disk image...' at the bottom of the main screen. If not, just scan the drive directly.
- Install Disk Drill on your system drive or a USB stick. Not on the Samsung - don't touch that drive at all.
- Open it and find the physical Samsung disk under Storage Devices. Select the top-level hardware entry, not any volume listed under it. On a RAW drive, the volume might not even show up.
- Hit 'Search for lost data' - full scan, not quick scan. Quick scan relies on the file system being partially readable, which yours isn't. Full scan reads raw sectors and rebuilds file signatures from scratch.
- Leave it alone until it hits 100%. On 1TB over USB 3.0 expect 1-3 hours. Files populate in real time, but do NOT stop it early.
- Click 'Review found items' when it finishes. Left panel splits by type: Pictures, Documents, Videos, Archives. Go straight to the categories you care about.
- Preview before recovering anything. Click a file and confirm it actually opens. A filename in the list means nothing - a file that opens correctly means the data sectors are intact. Most important step.
- Select everything, click Recover, and pick a completely separate drive. Not the Samsung. Not a drive that's almost full. Somewhere fresh.
Quote from em_danielh on April 8, 2026, 8:51 pmheads up before the scan finishes - if your files come back as FILE0001, FILE0002 with no real names, that means the directory structure got hit too, not just the partition table. don't panic, the actual file content is still there, you just lose the original names and folder layout. not ideal but way better than nothing.
original names in results = best case, partition table only. generic names = directory damage too, both still recoverable. this explains what to do either way.
heads up before the scan finishes - if your files come back as FILE0001, FILE0002 with no real names, that means the directory structure got hit too, not just the partition table. don't panic, the actual file content is still there, you just lose the original names and folder layout. not ideal but way better than nothing.
original names in results = best case, partition table only. generic names = directory damage too, both still recoverable. this explains what to do either way.
Quote from its_alive on April 8, 2026, 8:55 pmscan is running. 40 mins in and I can already see folder names I recognise populating in the results. trying SO hard not to get my hopes up right now lol
1h 45min in now. okay so I have a shoot I cannot cancel in 20 minutes and I physically cannot bring the laptop. is it safe to just leave it?? I'm scared to touch anything
@shieran okay. charger in, sleep disabled, screen lock off, door locked. I am leaving. this is fine. it's fine.
scan is running. 40 mins in and I can already see folder names I recognise populating in the results. trying SO hard not to get my hopes up right now lol
1h 45min in now. okay so I have a shoot I cannot cancel in 20 minutes and I physically cannot bring the laptop. is it safe to just leave it?? I'm scared to touch anything
@shieran okay. charger in, sleep disabled, screen lock off, door locked. I am leaving. this is fine. it's fine.
Quote from its_alive on April 9, 2026, 2:35 amokay I'm back. scan finished while I was out. 2h 20min.
guys. I can see my files. like ALL of them. the folder structure is completely intact - my shoot folders, all the client subfolders, the whole year layout I built. I previewed a RAW from a June shoot. opened perfectly. previewed a contract PDF. opened. I literally burst into tears in the kitchen. I am not even slightly embarrassed about that.
I ordered a 2TB external while I was out. it arrived this morning. recovery is running right now. 34%. I am not moving from this chair.
78% now. the folder names are scrolling past in the recovery window and I recognise every single one of them. this is actually going to be okay.
@shieran @gobbp @Vata91 @AlexR I can't thank you enough. I was genuinely ready to email a client and tell her three months of shoot files were just gone. I'm sorting 3-2-1 backups the literal second this finishes.
okay I'm back. scan finished while I was out. 2h 20min.
guys. I can see my files. like ALL of them. the folder structure is completely intact - my shoot folders, all the client subfolders, the whole year layout I built. I previewed a RAW from a June shoot. opened perfectly. previewed a contract PDF. opened. I literally burst into tears in the kitchen. I am not even slightly embarrassed about that.
I ordered a 2TB external while I was out. it arrived this morning. recovery is running right now. 34%. I am not moving from this chair.
78% now. the folder names are scrolling past in the recovery window and I recognise every single one of them. this is actually going to be okay.
@shieran @gobbp @Vata91 @AlexR I can't thank you enough. I was genuinely ready to email a client and tell her three months of shoot files were just gone. I'm sorting 3-2-1 backups the literal second this finishes.
Quote from OhioTom on April 9, 2026, 2:39 amstumbled on this at 5am because the exact same thing happened to me. 500GB WD, plugged into a USB hub, the whole power strip got switched off accidentally. format dialog, RAW in Disk Management, the works.
been following every step here. Scan is at 60%, Documents folder already visible in results. @zensoul recover to a separate drive when it's done, right?
stumbled on this at 5am because the exact same thing happened to me. 500GB WD, plugged into a USB hub, the whole power strip got switched off accidentally. format dialog, RAW in Disk Management, the works.
been following every step here. Scan is at 60%, Documents folder already visible in results. @zensoul recover to a separate drive when it's done, right?
Quote from DataRecoverExpert on April 10, 2026, 1:24 amTwo recoveries are going well in the same thread. What actually happened: NTFS drives keep a partition table at sector 0 - a tiny structure that tells Windows where the volume starts and ends. alongside it, the MFT indexes every file on the drive. yanking the cable mid-write can corrupt exactly that sector. Windows reads it on mount, finds garbage instead of a valid signature, and marks everything RAW - even though the MFT and every file data sector behind it are completely untouched. That’s why recovery tools can find your files even when Windows can’t: they don’t rely on the partition table. They scan raw sectors directly, find NTFS signatures and MFT entries embedded in the sector data, and reconstruct the file index from scratch. initializing, formatting, or running CHKDSK on an unallocated volume all write to those sectors before recovery is done - each one turns a metadata problem into actual data loss. The only thing that kept both of these recoveries possible was not writing anything from the moment the drive showed RAW. If your scan comes back empty, try deep scan mode first - most people accidentally run Quick Scan, which won’t work on a RAW drive. If a full sector-by-sector scan returns nothing and the drive is clicking, that’s physical damage, and you need a professional. after recovery: reformat, set up a real backup, don’t be here again.
For anyone landing here later - if your drive shows unallocated, start here. If it shows RAW, this one covers that. Need to fix a corrupted partition on Windows 10 64-bit without losing data - here is a walk-through of the free tools.
Two recoveries are going well in the same thread. What actually happened: NTFS drives keep a partition table at sector 0 - a tiny structure that tells Windows where the volume starts and ends. alongside it, the MFT indexes every file on the drive. yanking the cable mid-write can corrupt exactly that sector. Windows reads it on mount, finds garbage instead of a valid signature, and marks everything RAW - even though the MFT and every file data sector behind it are completely untouched. That’s why recovery tools can find your files even when Windows can’t: they don’t rely on the partition table. They scan raw sectors directly, find NTFS signatures and MFT entries embedded in the sector data, and reconstruct the file index from scratch. initializing, formatting, or running CHKDSK on an unallocated volume all write to those sectors before recovery is done - each one turns a metadata problem into actual data loss. The only thing that kept both of these recoveries possible was not writing anything from the moment the drive showed RAW. If your scan comes back empty, try deep scan mode first - most people accidentally run Quick Scan, which won’t work on a RAW drive. If a full sector-by-sector scan returns nothing and the drive is clicking, that’s physical damage, and you need a professional. after recovery: reformat, set up a real backup, don’t be here again.
For anyone landing here later - if your drive shows unallocated, start here. If it shows RAW, this one covers that. Need to fix a corrupted partition on Windows 10 64-bit without losing data - here is a walk-through of the free tools.
Quote from its_alive on April 10, 2026, 1:26 amDONE. it's all there. I cannot believe it's all there, no way!!...
919GB out of 931GB. the missing 12GB is a folder of old unedited duplicates I'd already culled and was going to delete anyway. literally nothing I actually needed.
every client folder. every shoot. the whole trip from last summer. all there, all opens, all fine.
bought the Disk Drill licence the second I confirmed the previews were working. felt completely wrong not to. that software just saved my business.
two externals now. one on the desk, one in my bag, syncing automatically. @DataRecoverExpert - the 'metadata loss vs data loss' framing was the thing that made this make sense to me. the partition table was the only thing broken and the actual files were just... sitting there the whole time waiting to be found. thank you. all of you. genuinely. I don't have words for how relieved I am right now.
DONE. it's all there. I cannot believe it's all there, no way!!...
919GB out of 931GB. the missing 12GB is a folder of old unedited duplicates I'd already culled and was going to delete anyway. literally nothing I actually needed.
every client folder. every shoot. the whole trip from last summer. all there, all opens, all fine.
bought the Disk Drill licence the second I confirmed the previews were working. felt completely wrong not to. that software just saved my business.
two externals now. one on the desk, one in my bag, syncing automatically. @DataRecoverExpert - the 'metadata loss vs data loss' framing was the thing that made this make sense to me. the partition table was the only thing broken and the actual files were just... sitting there the whole time waiting to be found. thank you. all of you. genuinely. I don't have words for how relieved I am right now.
Quote from OhioTom on April 10, 2026, 1:28 amMine finished too. 487GB out of 500GB, original names, original folder structure, everything exactly where it was. The 13GB gap is almost certainly stuff that was mid-write when the power went out.
I genuinely cannot overstate how much I owe this thread. There were client deliverables on that drive that I had not exported anywhere else. I was sitting at 2am thinking my career was over. It wasn't.
@zensoul @em_danielh currently spot-checking files from each folder before I touch the original. Then, backing up immediately. lesson learned the hard way 😅
Mine finished too. 487GB out of 500GB, original names, original folder structure, everything exactly where it was. The 13GB gap is almost certainly stuff that was mid-write when the power went out.
I genuinely cannot overstate how much I owe this thread. There were client deliverables on that drive that I had not exported anywhere else. I was sitting at 2am thinking my career was over. It wasn't.
@zensoul @em_danielh currently spot-checking files from each folder before I touch the original. Then, backing up immediately. lesson learned the hard way 😅
Quote from nikaredko on April 10, 2026, 1:29 amPinning this. Two recoveries, both successful, and the steps are solid. Short version: don't click format, don't initialize, don't run CHKDSK - all three write to the drive and start destroying what you're trying to recover. RAW or unallocated with no sounds and the correct size in Disk Management is almost always a partition table problem, not a dead drive. Clone if you can, scan the clone. If not, a read-only scan on the original is safe. Run a full scan in Disk Drill, preview files before recovering, and recover to a separate drive. If the scan comes back empty, try deep scan mode first - if the drive is clicking, stop everything and call a pro. After recovery: reformat, back up, don't be here again. Tool comparison here if you're still deciding what to use.
Pinning this. Two recoveries, both successful, and the steps are solid. Short version: don't click format, don't initialize, don't run CHKDSK - all three write to the drive and start destroying what you're trying to recover. RAW or unallocated with no sounds and the correct size in Disk Management is almost always a partition table problem, not a dead drive. Clone if you can, scan the clone. If not, a read-only scan on the original is safe. Run a full scan in Disk Drill, preview files before recovering, and recover to a separate drive. If the scan comes back empty, try deep scan mode first - if the drive is clicking, stop everything and call a pro. After recovery: reformat, back up, don't be here again. Tool comparison here if you're still deciding what to use.
Quote from gobbp on April 10, 2026, 1:30 amEject your drives properly. saying this to myself as much as anyone. every... single.... time...
Eject your drives properly. saying this to myself as much as anyone. every... single.... time...