This often happens when the records determining the filesystem type or location on the disk are damaged or corrupted, usually the partition table or the boot sector. Therefore all the available filesystem drivers are unable to mount the filesystem as a drive. Properties of the drive show that both used and free spaces are 0 byte in size for the raw driveĪ RAW filesystem simply means that it is a filesystem that is not recognized by Windows. Here we will look at the causes, fixes and preventative measures for instances involving external drives being used with Windows XP and Windows Vista/7/8.Ĭommon error messages associated with the sudden inability to access an external hard disk drive. When approached sensibly and carefully, the situation can be resolved and the data saved more times than not.

It can be a breathtaking experience to suddenly be told that your data, often irreplaceable pictures and documents, might be gone forever.Īs with many similar situations in life the appropriate response is “Don’t panic”. So with all of that in mind, here is a revised version that hopefully addresses some of the shortomings of the post that was originally released in January of 2013.Ī common and befuddling problem with computers is the sudden and seemingly inexplicable disappearance of an external hard drive that has been functioning properly.

Many many many comments from people have been posted that show common problems that are not directly addressed by the original post.

Hard drives larger than 500GB have become commonplace.

It has been well over a year since last updating my post on ‘Recovering an external hard drive that has suddenly become RAW’ and there have been some significant changes.

Mac disc drive making weird noises