My SSD Shows a Raw Partition. What Do I Do?

In Microsoft® Windows® there are several common partition types, namely NTFS and FAT. When you see a RAW partition in Windows, this means the system does not recognize the file structure on the partition. If you take a drive formatted for Mac® systems and plug it into a Windows machine, the partition will show up as RAW. If a partition somehow becomes corrupted it may also report as RAW.

 In cases were a partition is no longer recognizable and reports as RAW, you simply need to delete this partition and create a new, functioning one in its place. Performing a diskpart clean on the drive to remove any corrupted partitions and file structure is typically a good idea before attempting to format the drive again. Be aware a diskpart clean will remove any data from the drive, so do be sure to backup any data that's still accessible to another storage device first.

If a drive was moved from one operating system to another, such as a macOS® drive to a Windows system, you should be able to easily recover the data by moving it back to a Mac system that supports its partition layout. If the partition was corrupted in some way, you will need to look at third-party data recovery programs online or reputable data recovery services. The good news is often when a partition becomes corrupted as RAW, it is frequently the partition table that becomes corrupted, not the actual data on the drive. Most data recovery programs are designed to rebuild this table, which will allow you get your files back.

There are lots of things which could potentially cause data to become corrupted on a drive. One of the most common culprits is loss of power to a drive while new data is being written. Examples of this would be having the power in your house go out when Windows is doing an update, or if you're using an SSD externally and you accidentally pulled out the USB cable while copying over files. A failure of this type could also be more software-related such as SATA storage controller or other driver problems.

If you experience regular issues with Windows becoming corrupted and needing to be reinstalled, it could be a sign of component malfunctions such as the power supply, motherboard, cables, or SSD.

If you are concerned about the health of your SSD our free Storage Executive utility can check the health of the drive for you. If you have any further questions or concerns please be sure to reach out to our support department so we can help you diagnose your situation, and provide you with the best solution to your problem.