Windows says you need to format the disk before you can use it, and Disk Management shows the file system as RAW. Do not click that Format button yet - RAW means Windows cannot read the map, not that your files are gone. First decide which of the two roads you are on.
A healthy pendrive is organised by a file system - FAT32, exFAT or NTFS - which is basically the index of where every file lives. When that index gets damaged, Windows reports the file system as RAW and refuses to open the drive. The files themselves are usually still sitting on the memory, only the index is broken. That is why this problem splits into two roads: rescue the data first, or format and move on - and picking the wrong road destroys data that was recoverable.
Everything after this point depends on one answer. If the pendrive holds the only copy of photos, documents or project files, you are on the rescue road - no formatting, no repair attempts, nothing that writes to the drive. If the drive held copies you have elsewhere, or it was just a transfer stick, take the format road and be done in five minutes. Most data loss in RAW cases happens when people take the format road out of habit while needing the rescue road.
Recovery software does not need the broken index - it scans the memory directly and recognises files by their contents. Free tools such as PhotoRec do exactly this and work read-only, so the attempt itself does not damage the data. Recover onto the PC's hard disk, never back onto the same pendrive, and verify the important files open. Only after your files are safe does formatting the drive become a harmless next step.
Data safe or not needed? Rebuild the drive with diskpart, as shown across this guide:
diskpart then list diskselect disk X - the pendrive, matched by sizecleancreate partition primaryformat fs=exfat quick (use fs=fat32 for small drives or old devices)assign then exitWarning: selecting the wrong disk in this list erases that disk. Check the size twice before the clean command.
Chkdsk repairs a file system it can read - it checks the index against the files. On a RAW drive it cannot read the index at all, so it stops with the message shown above. The same applies to most one-click repair claims: nothing built into Windows converts RAW back to FAT32 or exFAT while keeping your files. Recovery first, then a fresh format, is the real sequence - anyone promising a one-click RAW-to-FAT32 conversion with data intact is selling you the format road in disguise.
The common causes: pulling the pendrive out while a copy was still writing, removing it without ejecting during a background write, power loss mid-transfer, or the early stages of flash failure. Prevention is boring and effective - use the Safely Remove Hardware eject icon, wait for the copy dialog to fully close before unplugging, and treat a drive that goes RAW twice as a dying drive, not a clumsy one.
The video walks through the diskpart rebuild used on the format road - watch it before running clean on your drive.
▶️ Watch Full VideoNot with anything built into Windows. The honest route is: recover the files with scanning software first, then format the empty drive to FAT32 or exFAT. Tools advertising direct conversion are almost always formatting underneath.
Usually, yes. RAW means the index is unreadable, while the file contents remain on the memory until something overwrites them. That is exactly why recovery works - and why you must not format or copy new files onto the drive before recovering.
exFAT for a modern pendrive used with current computers and phones, especially for files over 4 GB. FAT32 only when the drive must work with older devices like car stereos, old TVs or printers that cannot read exFAT.