USB shows 0 bytes in Used space, Free space as well as Capacity? Don’t worry if your USB drive shows 0 bytes, you can try using MiniTool Power Data Recovery to easily and quickly recover lost data from 0 bytes drive without damaging the original data.

Problem description:

“I received a warning “you need to format the disk before you can use it” when I opened my USB drive. Then, I viewed the properties of the USB flash drive and found out it is 0 bytes in Used space, Free space as well as Capacity, as shown below.

usb shows 0 bytes

Now, what should I do? Can I retrieve data from the USB drive showing 0 bytes error? How to fix the error of USB drive shows 0 bytes?

It is believed that many users have encountered the situation mentioned above.

My i- ball cordial 4GB pen drive is showing 0 bytes used space and 0 bytes free space and when I am trying to format it… Its showing an error ... Please help me…ccm.net

However, do you know how to solve USB drive/SD card is showing 0 bytes? Is it possible to get missing data back from drive with 0 bytes error? And, can we effectively repair drive showing 0 bytes without losing data....

Right now, in today’s post, I will show you all answers in order. 

Chapter One: USB Drive0 Bytes Files Recovery

In general, if USB drive(or other storage devices such as computer hard drive, SD card, pen drive, etc.)shows 0bytes used space as well as 0 bytes free space and displays a pop-up window which is saying to format, YOU SHOULD NOT FROMAT IT NOW for formatting will erase all data on this drive.

At this time, I think you will agree with me when I say:

“It is necessary to recover missing data from drive with 0 bytes error before formatting it to move out this error.”

Well, according to a survey, experienced users will first think of lost data recovery once there is something wrong with their hard drive.

And, in next part, I am going to show you how to recover missing data before fixing the USB flash drive0 bytes error.

Solutions for USB 0 Bytes Recovery

Tip: Before recovering data from 0 bytes USB drive, it’s highly recommended to connect your USB flash drive with other computer to see whether the computer can read its files or data. If no files are there or it still shows 0 bytes, you may need to try your best to get its data back.

To be honest, to restore data from drive showing 0 bytes, you can try resorting to data recovery companies or turning to a professional data recovery software.

Turning to data recovery companies is indeed an effective method for 0 bytes drive data recovery, but this method has 2 big disadvantages. The recovery fees charged by companies are so high that common users cannot afford them. And, users have to bear the risk of leaking privacy in the process of file recovery.

Therefore, turning to a professional and reliable data recovery program is a wise choice for most common users.

But, you are probably wondering:

How do I find an excellent data recovery tool that can restore data from 0 bytes drive effectively?”

Right now, if you don’t have any good ideas, you may try MiniTool Power Data Recovery. In fact, as long as file loss is not caused by hardware failure or lost files are not overwritten, you can recover lost data with this tool. You can download this trial edition, and have a try. Or, you can use thepersonalor business edition to save unlimited data. If you can't determine which license type is the best for you, please see Compare License Type.

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Next, let’s see the detailed steps of 0 bytes files recovery.

Steps to Recover Data from USB Drive Showing 0 Bytes

First, connect your USB flash drive to computer, and then launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery to get its main interface.

the main interface of MIniTool Power Data Recovery

In the main window of this professional data recovery freeware, you can see multiple relatively independent data recovery modules, and each of them focuses on different data loss scenarios. To be specific:

  • This PC: recovers data from existing partition, such as logically damaged partition, reformatted partition, drive displayed as RAW.
  • Hard Disk Drive: is designed for data recovery from hard disk including mistakenly deleted partitions, and drives without partition table because of virus attack.
  • Removable Disk Drive: retrieves data from digital media in the event of any problems occurring.
  • CD/DVD Drivce: can recover data from CD/DVD disk effectively and quickly.

Here, to Recover Data from USB flash drive with 0 bytes used space and 0 bytes free space, you can click Removable Disk Drive. After that, select the USB drive, and then click “Scan” button. In this window, you can specify needed file types as long as clicking Settings.

set files before scanning drive

scan drive

After scanning, all found data will be listed in the following window, and then you are supposed to store all needed data in a safe place. If you are trying to recover pictures, you are allowed to preview them before saving by clicking Preview feature.

save files

See! With MiniTool Power Data Recovery, you can easily and quickly recover missing data from hard drive with 0 bytes error.

Video Watch

I used this tool to carry out 0 bytes files recovery without damaging the original data.

Our previous post of Recover Data from RAW File System, RAW Partition and RAW Drive Efficiently is recommended here to help you get more information about the professional data recovery software as well as its excellent data recovery modules.

I successfully restored missing data from USB flash drive showing 0 bytes without affecting the original data by using MiniTool Power Data Recovery.Click to Tweet

Now, after recovering data, it is time to fix the error of USB drive shows 0 bytes.

Chapter Two: How to Fix - USB Drive Shows 0 Bytes

Here, to perfectly repair drive showing 0 bytes, we will introduce what is 0 bytes drive and what casus this to happen at first.

Error - USB Drive Shows 0 Bytes

Sometimes, the File System of drive will display as unknown file system or RAW file system(Windows system cannot recognize them) when it has 0 bytes space.

Note: Some people called this drive as RAW drive since its file system is displayed as “RAW”.) And, many devices can suffer from this error such as USB flash drive, pen drive, flash drive, memory card, and external hard drive, etc.

And, if you try to access data saved in the 0 bytes drive, you may get the following error:

1. You need to format the disk in drive [Drive Letter] before you can use it. Do you want to format it?

you need to format the disk before you can use

2. This volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.

Alt=the volume does not contain a recognized file system

3. Windows was unable to complete the format.

4. The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drive.

Why Does USB Flash Drive Show 0 Bytes

Many reasons can cause this error, including:

  • Unplug USB drive when transferring data.
  • Remove USB flash drive without "safely remove hardware".
  • Power outage while disk is writing data.
  • Drive is infected by virus, so its file system is corrupted and displays as RAW file system.
  • There are some bad sectors on the drive, which will cause problem in saving or reading data.
  • Partition on the USB drive gets corrupted. More exactly, file system is corrupted such as DBR, MTF or FAT.

More other unknown reasons.

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How to Repair USB Flash Drive Showing 0 Bytes

After reading some basic information about the drive showing 0 bytes error, it’s time to fix this error. In general, to solve the 0 bytes problem in RAW USB drive, SD card, pen drive or other storage device, you can format it to change its file system to NTFS or FAT32.

Before formatting your RAW drive to repair drive showing 0 bytes, you are strongly recommended to get back all missing data from the drive because formatting will delete all data. As we know, even the USB drive shows 0 bytes, its data are still stored here. So, you have chance to recover missing data from RAW drive. Here, MiniTool Power Data Recovery can help to carry out 0 bytes file recovery.

Here, you can try the following methods to complete the formatting task.

1. To format drive in Windows Explorer directly

Right - click target 0 bytes drive, then choose “Format…”, and click “Start”.

format hard drive

However, sometimes, you will receive an error message that Windows was unable to complete the format, as shown below. At this time, what should you do to successfully complete this task? Is there a more effective and reliable method to format disk?

Windows was unable to complete the format

Of course, there is.

Want to know the best way to format RAW drive?

In general, you don’t need to worry about drive formatting when receiving the message that saying Windows was unable to complete the format, for you can format drive under Disk Management or format drive with help of professional drive formatting tool.

2. To format drive with Disk Management

Step 1: Right-click My Computer, tap Manage, choose Disk Management.

Step 2: Right - click the 0 bytes drive, choose “Format…”, and then specify volume lable, file system as well as allocation unit size, and click “OK”.

disk management format drive

3. To format drive with third-party partitioning software

Alternatively, you can try using MiniTool partition Wizard to solve the “Windows was unable to complete the format” error.

Our previous post “How Do I Fix Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format” will give you more information.

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Conclusion

Are you still worried about the 0 bytes drive error? In fact, there is no need to worry about it, for you can change its file system from RAW to NTFS or FAT32 to reuse it.

However, one thing you must keep in mind is that recovering missing data from drive with 0 bytes error ahead of doing anything else….. Otherwise, all original data on the 0 bytes drive might be lost forever. When it comes to 0 bytes files recovery, you can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery because of its powerful function as well as high security.

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Should you have any suggestions or problems, please leave it in the following comments. Much appreciated!

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