Resolve Recuva Unable to Determine File System Type (Error)

Recuva might show unable to determine file system type error if the drive to be recovered is in a raw data state. Moreover, a temporary glitch in the storage modules may also cause the issue at hand. The issue arises when the user tries to recover files from a storage drive but the following message is shown:

Recuva Unable to Determine File System Type

Before proceeding with the solutions, keep in mind that Recuva (and many other recovery applications) might not be able to recover data from a drive that was encrypted by using BitLocker.

1. Unmount and Remount the Storage Drive

The Recuva application may show the unable to determine file system type error message when recovering data from a drive due to a temporary glitch of storage modules and unmounting/remounting the drive may solve Recuva Unable to Determine File System Type error.

1. Exit Recuva and right-click Windows.
2. Now open Disk Management and right-click on the storage drive.

   

3. Then choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.

   

4. Now select Remove and once the drive is unmounted, detach it from the system.

   

5. Then reboot your PC and upon reboot, open the Disk Management (as discussed above).
6. Now right-click on the drive and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
7. Then click on Add and select a drive letter in the dropdown of Assign the Following Drive Letter.

   

8. Now close the Disk Management and launch Recuva to check if the file system issue is resolved.

2. Format the Storage Drive via Disk Management

If the hard drive is in the raw form, then performing the Quick Format may give the Recuva required access to recover the data and fix the Recuva Unable to Determine File System Type error.

Warning:  Proceed at your own risk as performing a quick format overwrites the partition table and the recovered data (if any) might not be in the folder/directory structure you would like and you may have to spend countless hours to find the essential data.

If you have decided (with your free will) to proceed further, then make sure to create a raw image backup of the drive (you can find a utility to do the backup on the Internet).

1. Right-click Windows and open the Disk Management.
2. Now, right-click on the drive and select Format.

   

3. Then, choose File System of NTFS and checkmark Quick Format.

   

4. Now click on the OK button and let the process complete.
5. Once completed, launch Recuva, and hopefully, the unable to determine file system type issue is resolved.

If you have recovered the data from the drive, then you may search the Internet for a utility to recover the partition table from a raw drive and use it to structure the data.