Fix: The Volume Does Not Contain A Recognized File System in Windows 10/8/7

Follow this table to take the correct processes to fix the "The volume does not contain a recognized file system" error without data loss:

The Volume Does Not Contain a Recognized File System Error Overview

Symptoms

Sometimes, when you plug in an external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, or some other storage devices into your Windows computer, Windows prompts, "You need to format the disk in drive G: before you can use it. Do you want to format it?"

You might click Cancel to refuse to format the disk or card if there are some important data files. Then Windows will prompt "Drive G:\ is not accessible. The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please ensure all required file system drivers are loaded, and the volume is not corrupted." This is how usually the "The volume does not contain a recognized file system" error occurs in Windows 11 or Windows 10.

Causes

To fix "The volume does not contain a recognized file system" error in Windows 10 without losing data, you should first figure out why this error happens. Why did you receive the error message?

As we know, the most possible reason is a file system error. A file system error on your device will make it become RAW, which is not really a type of file system but presents a problem with your drive. It typically occurs when the file system type information is missing or inconsistent between several system tables. Simply speaking, the file system errors that may lead to the issue in the discussion include:

• Your computer does not recognize the file system of your storage device.
• The file system of your device is missing.
• Your device is not correctly formatted, or the file system is damaged.

Such errors will happen if you have ever forcibly unplugged your external hard drive from the computer without "Safely removing" them first. After figuring out what results in the "The volume does not contain a recognized file system" error, fixing it without data loss becomes quite easy. 

Now do you know the cause and manifestation of this problem? If you're interested, you can share it on your social media.

Fix "The Volume Does Not Contain a Recognized File System" Error and Recover Data (3 Steps)

The most effective way to fix file system-related issues is to format the storage device. By formatting, you will assign a new file system to the device, which will make the device usable again. However, since formatting will erase all the existing files on your hard drive, you will need to perform data recovery before the fix if you don't want to lose them all. Therefore, to fix an external storage device that has file system errors, all you need to do is to:

1. 1️⃣First, find a reliable data recovery tool to restore files from RAW drive
2. 2️⃣Second, format the hard drive/USB/SD card
3. 3️⃣Finally, copy the recovered data back to the device

Procedure 1. Recover Data From Raw Drive with "The Volume Does Not Contain a Recognized File System" Error

Offering a powerful and easy RAW recovery solution, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard allows you to recover your data from the RAW drive before formatting the device to change RAW to NTFS/FAT32 file system.

It is a proven way to solve the "Drive is not accessible. The volume does not contain a recognized file system" issue in Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP and Windows Server 2012/2008/2003.

Step 1. Select a drive and start scanning

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and hover over the partition where you lost data. This could be an internal hard disk, external disk, USB, or SD card. Then, click "Scan".

Step 2. Check and preview scanned files

Use the file format filter on the left or upper right corner to narrow the scan results until you find the files you need. Then, you can click the "Preview" button or double-click a file to preview its content, if you'd like. 

Step 3. Recover lost data to a secure location

Click the checkbox next to the file and click "Recover" to restore the lost data to a secure place. We recommend that you do not store the recovered data on the disk where you lost it earlier.

In addition to data recovery solutions, we still provide data recovery services to help you retrieve data from RAW USB or RAW SD card on a one-to-one basis.

Procedure 2. Fix and Repair USB/SD Card with RAW File System 

After restoring data from devices that are not accessible or cannot be recognized, you can now follow the below steps to repair and fix devices such as external hard drives, USB drives, SD cards or hard drive partitions, and repair the file system to be recognizable/detectable again:

Step 1. Right-click "This PC"/"My Computer" > "Manage" > "Disk Management".

Step 2. Right-click on the RAW drive, USB, SD card... > format volume" > reset file system (NTFS/FAT32, etc.) and rename the device.

Step 3. Click "Finish" to complete 'the volume does not contain a recognized file system' error repair process on storage devices.

Procedure 3. Copy the Files Back to Your Storage Device

After formatting your removable disk, you can open it and use it for data storage again. You can copy the files you recovered back to your external hard drive, USB, memory card... to make it just like before.

Share these very practical solutions to help more people.

More Useful Tips to Solve The Volume Does Not Contain a Recognized File System Issue

Except for formatting the RAW volume, other ways you can try to troubleshoot are:

Methods	Editor's Review
♻️Run SFC scan	System File Checker is a Windows default troubleshooting utility that you can scan and repair corrupted system files.
🔌Check disk error	To fix the error on your hard drive, you can connect it to your computer. Go to This PC, right-click the drive, and click Properties. Select Tools and click Check to scan the drive.
📈Run CHKDSK Command	CHKDSK command can find the file system corruption and fix it to make your computer can recognize the volume.
💽Convert RAW to NTFS	If the volume does not contain a recognized file system showing RAW, you can convert the RAW drive to NTFS to make it work again.

The Bottom Line

If there is no data on the external storage device or you don't want to keep the files on it, you can format the device directly to remove the error message "The volume does not contain a recognized file system."

But if you don't want to lose any item, you are highly recommended to retrieve the data first before the formatting. Although EaseUS data recovery software supports formatted data recovery, it's always better to rescue your files before the operation.

Volume Does Not Contain a Recognized File System FAQs

Next are some questions that people also ask. To utterly remove the error "the volume does not contain a recognized file system", the answers might be useful for you.

How to fix this volume does not contain a recognized file system?

Method to fix this volume does not contain a recognized file system:

• Run SFC scan
• Use disk check utility 
• Run CHKDSK command
• Format the RAW drive 

What does the volume does not contain a recognized file system D drive?

When you try to access a removable device on your computer, you may receive an error message that says " X:\ is not accessible. The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please ensure all required file system drivers are loaded and the volume is not corrupted."

This error may occur for bad sectors on the drive, file system damage, corrupted system files, or RAW USB or SD card.

How do I fix a raw USB?

Use CMD to fix and repair a RAW USB drive or SD card:

Step 1. Search for Command Prompt and run it as administrator. 

Step 2. Type chkdsk G: /f in the CMD window and hit "Enter". (Replace "G" with the drive letter of your USB flash drive)

Step 3. Then Windows will start checking RAW USB and fixing the damaged file system. 

How do I open a raw drive without formatting?

To open and access a raw drive without formatting, you can:

Step 1. Go to "This PC" on your Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer.

Step 2. Right-click the RAW drive and click "Properties".

Step 3. Click the "Tools" tab and then click "Check".

Step 4. In the "Error Checking" window, click "Scan and repair drive" and wait for the process to finish.