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If your SD card turns RAW and you can't access the saved data, don't worry. This page will show you practical solutions on how to convert RAW to FAT32 without losing any data via formatting or other methods. Follow the guide now to fix the RAW to FAT32 issue by yourself.
If your SD card has switched to RAW format, here's how you can convert it back to FAT32 in American English: 1. **Connect the SD card**: First, insert the SD card into a card reader and then connect the card reader to your computer. 2. **Check Disk Management**: Press `Windows + X` keys and choose "Disk Management." This will display a list of all storage devices on your computer. 3. **Identify the RAW SD card**: In the Disk Management window, find the SD card that's identified as RAW. It might not have an assigned drive letter and its status could say "Uninitialized." 4. **Create a new simple volume**: Right-click on the RAW SD card and select "New Simple Volume." 5. **Follow the wizard**: Proceed with the New Simple Volume Wizard steps. When prompted to choose a file system, make sure to select "FAT32," and confirm other settings (like volume size) match your needs. 6. **Format the SD card**: Click "Next," then in the warning prompt, confirm the SD card you want to format and hit "OK." Be aware that this will erase all data on the SD card, so ensure you've backed up important files. 7. **Wait for formatting to finish**: The formatting process may take some time, so wait patiently until the progress bar completes. 8. **Verify the conversion**: Once done, your SD card should now be formatted as FAT32. You can verify this through Disk Management or by exploring it in File Explorer (This PC). If you encounter any issues or can't format the SD card, you might need professional data recovery tools and/or disk repair software to address more complex problems.
According to a Google search, it appears that the SD card RAW issue currently affects:
Due to various reasons, an SD card, USB drive, external hard drive, or even a hard disk partition in Windows 11/10/8/7 might become RAW and inaccessible. Hence, the question arises of how to effectively change the file system of an SD card, USB device, external hard drive, etc., from RAW to FAT32.
Fortunately, on this page, the Tools software gathers some useful tips and methods to guide you to convert RAW SD to FAT32 as an example to fix or recover RAW drive or RAW file system error by yourself. Let's see how to repair or recover RAW SD to FAT32.
Step 1: Recover Data from RAW Disk before Formatting
When your SD card or hard drive turns RAW, you won't be able to access the drive and export files. But you can rely on the SD Card Data Recovery software - Data Recovery Wizard to restore and export data. This powerful data recovery software supports deleted file recovery, formatted file recovery, RAW drive recovery, and more.
- Restore deleted, formatted, or inaccessible data in various data loss scenarios.
- Safely and completely recover photos, audio, music, and emails from any storage device.
- Recover data from the Recycle Bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorder.
Download and run this RAW Drive Recovery software to retrieve RAW data:
Step 1. Select the SD card to scan
- Download and install the Data Recovery Wizard tool on your Windows computer.
- Connect your SanDisk/Lexar/Transcend SD card to the computer properly.
- Launch the SD card recovery software. On the left, select "SD Card Recovery." This will show all connected drives. Choose your SD card and click "Scan."
Step 2: Review the scan results
- Wait for the scan to complete.
Select one or more file types to display, such as pictures or videos.
Click "Preview" to make sure they're the files you want.
Step 3: Recover Data from SD Card
- Preview the recovered files and then click "Recover."
- Choose a location different from the original SD card to save the recovered files.
Step 2: How to Convert/Format an SD Card to FAT32 Before proceeding, ensure you have backed up all essential data on the SD card, as formatting will erase everything. Here's how to convert a RAW formatted SD card to FAT32: 1. **Connect the SD Card:** Insert the SD card into a card reader and connect the reader to your computer's USB port. 2. **Open Disk Management:** On Windows, press `Win + X` and choose "Disk Management." On a Mac, open "Disk Utility." 3. **Check the SD Card Status:** In Disk Management or Disk Utility, locate your SD card. Note if its current file system is displayed as "RAW." 4. **Initialize the SD Card:** Right-click on the SD card and select "Initialize Disk." In the pop-up, choose "MBR (Master Boot Record)" and click "OK." 5. **Create a New Partition:** You should now see an "Unallocated" space. Right-click it and choose "New Simple Volume," then follow the wizard's instructions. 6. **Select File System and Allocation Unit Size:** When prompted to "Format the new volume," make sure to choose "FAT32" as the file system. For "Allocation Unit Size," it's usually recommended to keep the default setting. 7. **Format the SD Card:** Check the "Quick Format" box and then click "Next" and "Finish." This will initiate the formatting process, which may take a few minutes. 8. **Confirm the Conversion:** After formatting, verify that the SD card has successfully converted to FAT32. In Disk Management, the file system should now display as "FAT32." 9. **Safely Eject the SD Card:** Once formatting is complete, safely eject the SD card from your computer and use it as needed. Please note that if your SD card's capacity exceeds 32GB, Windows might prevent you from selecting FAT32, as it doesn't support FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB. In such cases, you may need third-party tools like tools Partition Master or AOMEI Partition Assistant, which allow creating large-capacity FAT32 partitions.
After the SD card data recovery, you can use effective methods to convert the SD card to FAT32. You can right-click on the SD card and format the SD card using Disk Management or a third-party formatting tool.
1 - Right-click and format RAW SD card to FAT32
This is the easiest and fastest way to convert RAW SD to FAT32 without having to download any software or extra tools.
Step 1: Connect the SD card to your computer and open “This PC”.
Step 2: Right-click on the SD card and select "Format."
Step 3: Click “Restore Device Defaults” in the pop-up window.
Step 4. Choose the desired file system (FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS), then click “Start” to begin the formatting process.
2 - Format RAW SD to FAT32 with Disk Management
You can also go to Disk Management and convert your RAW SD card to FAT32.
Step 1: Access “Disk Management”, right click on the RAW SD card and select “Format”.
Step 2. Give the drive a label, choose a file system (FAT32 in this case), and select a cluster size. The default formatting option should be "Quick Format." Click "OK" to proceed.
Step 3. After formatting, you can access and use the RAW file system partition or drive as you normally would.
3 - Use CMD to Convert RAW SD Card to FAT32
If you're familiar with CMD, you can use the Command Prompt to convert a RAW SD card to FAT32.
Step 1. Type cmd in the Windows 11/10 search box, and you should see Command Prompt as the best match. Right-click on it and select Run as administrator.
Step 2. Type diskpart and press Enter.
Step 3. Type list disk and press "Enter" to list all available disks.
Step 4. Type select disk X, where X is the number of your SD card (for example, select disk 2), and press Enter.
Step 5: Type list volume and press "Enter."
Step 6: Type select volume X (where X is the drive number), and press Enter.
Step 7: Type format fs=ntfs (or format fs=fat32) and press "Enter" to format the drive using NTFS or FAT32.
Then type create partition primary to create the primary partition, assign it a letter, and type exit to close the program. When Diskpart reports that it has successfully formatted the volume, you're done.
4 – Run the Partition Master tool to convert to FAT32
Another way to convert RAW to FAT32 is by using the Partition Master tool. This partition management software can help you easily format RAW to FAT32. Plus, you can cancel the process before executing it. The software has many other highlights that can be of great assistance to you.
Step 1: Start Partition Master.
Right click on the RAW partition or RAW external hard drive/USB/SD card that needs formatting and select “Format”.
Step 2: Format the RAW partition and reset the file system.
Specify the new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT), and cluster size, then hit "OK".
Step 3: Click “Yes” on the warning window to proceed.
Click “Yes” to allow the program to format the target RAW partition to the file system format of your choice for the disk.
Step 4: Perform the action.
Click on “Execute 1 Task” button at the bottom right corner to preview all the changes and then click on “Apply” to start formatting RAW partition/USB/SD/external hard drive.
Why Does Your SD Card Become RAW?
Usually, an SD card's file system becomes RAW due to the following reasons:
- 1. There are some bad sectors on the critical area of the micro SD card.
- 2. The file system of the SD card partition is corrupted.
- 3. The partition table of the micro SD card is damaged.
- 4. Virus or malware attack.
If your Micro SD card turns to RAW format, you will receive an error message like “The disk in drive X is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?” But you can use the above solutions to fix RAW drive issues.
Conclusions
There are 4 ways to convert RAW to FAT32. Before formatting, you should run data recovery software to save your data to avoid data loss. Then, you can try any of the above methods to format your SD card to FAT32.
Frequently Asked Questions on Converting RAW to FAT32 on an SD Card (UTF-8 Encoding)
If you need more help, please read the following Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Why does my SD card need to be formatted?
A format message on the memory card usually occurs when the writing process on the SD card gets corrupted or interrupted. This could be due to a lost file that was being used to read or write on the computer or camera, thus making the SD card inaccessible without formatting.
How to fix RAW file system on SD card?
Step 1: Recover data from RAW drive before formatting
Step 2: Format the SD card to FAT32/NTFS from RAW
How do I know if my SD card is formatted as FAT32?
When you insert your SD card into your computer or laptop, there's a quick way to check if it's formatted to the correct FAT32 format. Right-click on your SD card, and then click “Properties.” From here, you can check whether your SD card is formatted as NTFS or FAT32.