Hi Lorraine, RAW is not a standard format like JPEG, .NEF is Nikon's own RAW format, I don't know what the other manufacturers use, so you need the correct plugin for the RAW converter, a software update might do it for you if you're lucky.
I don't know what you mean by 2 options for RAW, unless you mean RAW only or RAW + JPEG, if it is that then the camera simply produces 2 versions of the same picture.

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