How to Recover Data and Fix When Hard Drive Show 0 Bytes

It’s weird that obviously, a hard disk has many files stored there, but it shows both the used space and free space with 0 bytes. What’s worse, you can’t access the hard drive at all. It means the data is trapped there. What’s wrong with it? And how to fix 0 bytes hard drive and how to recover data when the hard drive shows 0 bytes? Learn the details below.

Why is my hard disk show 0 bytes?

There are many reasons cause the hard drive shows 0 bytes, like

• Abrupt power off when using the hard drive.
• Virus and malware attack.
• Remove the disk without proper ejection.
• There are bad sectors and the file system is corrupted, resulting in the file system being RAW.
• Unexpected interruption when formatting or partitioning the hard drive.

No matter what the reason causes the issue of 0 bytes on a hard disk, the very first thing you care about must be how to recover data when a hard drive shows 0 bytes. After all, the data is more important than the hard drive itself and after the data recovery, you can feel free to concentrate on how to fix 0 bytes hard drive. Let’s get down to the tasks one by one.

Can you recover data from a zeroed hard drive?

If your hard drive becomes 0 bytes, it means you can’t access the disk at all, let alone view the files there. You’re supposed to restore files from the 0 bytes hard drive right away before anything worse happens.

You can do the 0 bytes hard drive data recovery with the help of trustworthy hard drive data recovery software, iBeesoft Data Recovery. Once you connected the hard drive with your computer, this software will scan the disk, displaying all the files trapped in the 0 bytes hard drive, letting you preview and get them back safely to your computer.

iBeesoft Data Recovery Software – Preview and Recover Files from 0 Bytes Hard Drive

iBeesoft Data Recovery is a professional disk recovery solutions provider. It has helped thousands of people to recover data from hard disk in emergencies. It’s an excellent choice for individuals to retrieve when incidents happen. Here are some of its main features.

Step-by-step guide for how to recover data when hard drive shows 0 bytes

1. Download and install the hard drive recovery software on your computer.

You can click the DOWNLOAD button directly to get the installation package. After then, follow the built-in navigation to install it.

2. Launch it and click "go to setting" to filter file types.
3. Select the target disk to extract files.

From the first window, hover the mouse over the interface and click the "Scan" button beside the 0 bytes hard drive, letting the software scan the 0 bytes hard drive.

4. Click the "Preview" button to view the found files

It patiently for the scanning process to finish. The software will sort all the recoverable files into the directory. You can find and click directly in the left panel and check the details on the right panel.

5. Save recoverable files to hard drive

When finding the needed files you want to recover from the 0 bytes hard drive, select them and click "Recover" to save them to your computer.

How to Fix Hard Disk Show 0 Bytes

After recovering data from zeroed hard drive, then the next should be how to fix 0 bytes hard drive. No matter it is the new hard drive shows 0 bytes or the external hard drive 0 bytes, first, judge the media displayed in disk management or not ( Press "Windows + R" and type diskmgmt.msc and press "Enter" to enable Disk Management).

If it appears in Disk Management, similar to the screenshot below, then you have the following solutions available to fix 0 bytes on a hard drive.

Solution #1. Change Hard Drive Letter.

If a hard drive becomes 0 bytes, it might be a connection problem. The drive letter is not detected. In this case, you need to change the drive letter in Disk Management.

1. Press Windows + X keys, and click Disk Management.
2. Find the hard drive that shows 0 bytes and right-click on it.
3. Click "Change Drive Letter and Paths…"
4. Click the "Change" button and from the drop-down list, choose a drive letter for the hard drive.
5. Confirm the action by clicking "OK", then "Yes".

Restart your computer or eject the hard drive if it is an external hard drive connected to your computer.

Solution #2. Run CHKDSK Utility to Fix 0 Bytes Hard Drive

CHKDSK is Microsoft Windows built-in feature to scan and fix errors on hard drives, especially when there are bad sectors in the drive. It is helpful to fix 0 bytes hard drive and external hard drive.

1. Press Windows + R keys, type in cmd, and press Enter.
2. Type in chkdsk F:/r /f (F represents the hard drive letter) and press Enter.
3. Wait for the process to finish and restart your computer. This might fix 0 bytes on a hard drive.

Solution #3. Run Disk Error Checker to Fix Zero Space Hard Drive

A simple way to fix 0 bytes hard drive is by running Disk Error Checker. Just right-click on the hard drive in File Explorer > click Properties > in Error Checking area, click "Check". It will scan and fix the error on the hard drive.

Solution #4. Format 0 Bytes Hard Drive to NTFS File System

The last resort should be formatting the 0 bytes hard drive file system to NTFS. The 0 bytes might be caused by the RAW system, which means you can’t access files before getting out of the RAW system. Before following the formatting steps, you should do RAW DATA RECOVERY. Otherwise, all the files there might be permanently deleted.

1. Open the Disk Management
2. Select the 0 bytes hard disk. Right-click on it and choose "Format".
3. Select NTFS from the file system drop-down list and confirm the formatting by clicking "OK".

This article tells you how to recover data when a hard drive shows 0 bytes as well as 4 solutions for how to fix 0 bytes hard drive. However, the best way to prevent the trouble should be to use the hard drive properly and do backup regularly. That’s the almighty solution. Hope this article is helpful for you to restore files from failing hard disk.