Summary: The article below will explain the possible reason that External Drive Showing 0 bytes and show effective ways to recover data from the external drive.
Nowadays, having an external hard drive is necessary for everyone to backup essential data. It makes our life more convenient, quick and easy. And going by the ever-increasing size of documents, pictures, videos, and other media, it is mandatory.
Unfortunately, these external hard drives can fail sometimes and you can experience loss of data! Don’t know how to recover data from external drive showing 0 bytes? You can easily do it with the help of certain methods. Here are some ways you can restore data easily.
Table of Contents
Possible Reasons for External Drive Showing 0 Bytes
There can be a number of reasons behind an external drive showing empty, no space or half capacity. Electronic devices are not bullet-proof and they can fail without any proper notification. When you try to open the drive you may get an error message that denies all your access. It can be a hardware issue or an internal issue.
So, here are some factors you should know:
- Bad sectors and data getting trapped! All your data becomes RAW. This means that your data in the drive is unprocessed by your system.
- Removing the external drive without proper ejection.
- Due to virus or malware
- Power surge while usage.
- Interruptions while formatting etc.
Ways to Recover Data from External Drive Showing 0 bytes
So, going by the possible causes of this issue, here are some ways to retrieve the data in case you are stuck with the 0 used space. Follow the detailed guide below:
Method 1. Rename the External Drive
You can rename the external drive using the Disk Management tool on your PC.
- Press WIN Key + R and type Diskmgmt.msc to open the Disk Management window.
- All the drives present on your PC is displayed. Right-click on the corrupted drive. Here click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
- Then, click Change and then select a different drive letter.
- Select OK to confirm. Then click Yes when a prompt is displayed. Again confirm by clicking OK button.
- Now restart your system and then check for the files on the renamed external drive.
Method 2. Using the Microsoft Safety Scanner
In case, this situation on your external drive is created due to some malware or virus, you can use this Microsoft Safety Scanner. This is also free download software from Microsoft.
This removes all the virus in your system. If any part or sector is affected then the software repairs it completely so that data can be erased. Simply download the software and run the anti-virus program. Then restart the system to get files back.
Both these methods mentioned here are not very reliable. This is a hit-and-trial method only. Recovering your data from the corrupted external drive is not promised in these methods. Also, these methods are only for Windows OS and not for Mac OS.
So opting for a proper data recovery software is ideal!
Method 3. Recover Data from External Drive Showing 0 Bytes Using Data Recovery Software (Best Method)
Everyone has an external drive to store important files on the system. Anybody can experience the hard disk problem anytime. This puts your data at risk and you might even lose them permanently.
Our Bitwar Data Recovery software is highly reliable and can be used on either Mac or PC. For 0 bytes issue, our software can detect the original file system it was, e.g. NTFS, then you can see the drive’s type showing as NTFS_RAW, in which you are allowed to use the Quick Scan mode to retrieve the data with the original file name, file path and folder structure!
Besides, if you want the best recovery rate, this should be your choice! Here are the steps to get back data from external drive showing 0 bytes use this software:
Step 1: Downloading Bitwar Data Recovery Software
Go to the official website https://www.r-datarecovery.com to download this software. Download the software on your PC/Mac by clicking Download for PC/Download for Mac. Once the download is complete, install the software on your system.
Step 2: Connecting the Malfunctioning External Drive with PC/Mac
After downloading the software, you need to connect the affected drive to your laptop/PC.
Step 3: Open the Bitwar Data Recovery Software
Launch the Bitwar Data Recovery software and make sure you select the Standard Mode. You need to choose External Devices Recovery.
Step 4: Choose the External Drive
In this interface, you need to choose the malfunctioning external drive and then click on it to open.
Step 5: Select File Types
After choosing the device and scan mode, choose the file type of the file that you want to get back.
Step 6: Scan the External Drive
Tap Scan to begin scanning the external drive. This may take a while and takes time according to the size of the external drive. Then all the recovered data are displayed through the software.
Step 6: Recover Corrupted Files
Double-click the data you need from the external hard drive to preview, click the Recover button after confirmation. You will receive a message on where to save these recovered files on the computer.
Tips: It’s better to save the loss of files on a different external drive or on the computer disk drive and please make sure that you do not save all the recovered files again to the corrupted drive to restrict further data loss.
Conclusion
It is always a good habit to back up the files on your PC or Mac. Otherwise, you need to store all your important data on external devices like pen drives or other external hard disks. In case of any emergencies, it can be a huge help!
Nevertheless, as you can see it is possible to retrieve data from external drive showing 0 capacity with other methods stated above. But if you need the best one, it is undoubtedly Bitwar Data Recovery software. This can be done without disturbing all your other data.
If you happen to have vital data lost from the USB drives, Seagate, Toshiba, Samsung external hard drive, try with the Bitwar Data Recovery Software now.
Useful article. Thanks:)
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