Bracknell Data Recovery – Bracknell and London’s No.1 data recovery experts with over 25 years of professional experience in recovering data from damaged Seagate hard drives. If your Seagate drive has suddenly become unreadable and now appears in RAW format, don’t panic – our specialists are here to help.
What Is RAW Mode and Why It Happens
When a Seagate hard drive shows up as RAW in Windows or other operating systems, it usually means that the file system is corrupted or missing, and the operating system can no longer recognise or mount the volume. This commonly results from:
- Unsafe removal of the drive
- Power failure during file operations
- Malware or ransomware infection
- Bad sectors or mechanical degradation
- Faulty firmware or partition table corruption
Despite the alarming appearance, data is often still present and recoverable beneath the RAW layer.
Our Seagate RAW Drive Recovery Process – Step by Step
1. Forensic Disk Imaging
We begin by creating a bit-level image of the entire Seagate drive using specialised write-blocking hardware. This ensures no further changes are made to the original disk during analysis or recovery.
2. File System & Partition Analysis
Our engineers perform a deep scan of the disk image to identify:
- Previous partition structure
- File system signatures (NTFS, exFAT, HFS+, ext3, etc.)
- MFT (Master File Table) or equivalent structures if present
Even in RAW state, we often locate enough metadata to rebuild file access.
3. Bad Sector Handling & Error Correction
If the Seagate drive has bad sectors or degraded firmware, we use advanced tools to:
- Bypass unreadable sectors
- Reconstruct partially damaged files
- Repair corrupt file headers and allocation tables
4. RAW File System Reconstruction
Where logical corruption is extensive, we reconstruct the file system from residual structures or perform signature-based carving to recover:
- Documents, photos, and videos
- Email databases and spreadsheets
- Application-specific files (e.g., AutoCAD, SQL, Outlook PST)
5. Data Verification & Transfer
All recovered files undergo integrity verification before being transferred to a clean, healthy storage medium. We mirror original folder structures wherever possible to keep your data organised and accessible.
Supported Seagate Drive Types
We recover from all Seagate models including:
- Seagate Barracuda
- Seagate IronWolf & IronWolf Pro
- Seagate Backup Plus
- Seagate Expansion Portable
- Seagate FireCuda
- Seagate Exos Enterprise Drives
- Seagate One Touch
- Seagate SkyHawk Surveillance Drives
- Seagate Game Drives for Xbox & PS5
- Seagate Desktop and Mobile HDDs
Supported Operating Systems & File Systems
- Windows: NTFS, exFAT, FAT32
- Mac: HFS, HFS+, APFS
- Linux/Unix: ext2/3/4, XFS, Btrfs
- Virtual Machines: VHD, VHDX, VMware VMDK
Why Choose Bracknell Data Recovery?
- 25+ Years in Business: Trusted by consumers, businesses, and institutions
- Specialist Seagate Tools: We use certified recovery platforms designed for Seagate firmware and controller issues
- UK-Based Service: All work handled securely within the UK
- Critical Recovery Option: 48-hour emergency turnaround available
Contact Us for a Free Diagnostic
If your Seagate hard drive is showing up as RAW or has a corrupt file system, do not format or run CHKDSK. Let our engineers handle the recovery professionally and safely.
Bracknell Data Recovery – Your experts in Seagate data recovery UK.