External drive shows raw file system

This is a known issue with external drives, as such devices are designed to be connected and disconnected from the computer frequently, which is one of the main causes of file system metadata corruption.

The main metadata of the file system is stored in the boot sector (512 bytes in total), which is located at the beginning of the volume (usually sector 0) and several other sectors. If you work with a disk - write, delete, modify files and folders, then the metadata of the file system also changes, for example, the time when metadata records were modified, pointers to sectors where the contents of the file system control tables are located, etc. Some of these metadata are updated immediately, and some a little later. If you eject the external disk without the Eject function or at all, for example, during an unfinished copy, then there is a chance that the metadata will not be written correctly, which in turn will lead to an error when connecting the disk.

Since this is a logical error, not a physical one, you can solve it at home with the help of data recovery software. You will need to download, install and run the software, select a recovery disk and later evaluate the quality of files and folders. You can try several programs, this is short and safe, as they mostly work in read-only mode.

Read the detailed instruction on data recovery from an external drive.

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