Summary: While trying to format your storage drives, if you encounter an error message "Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable," you may lose access to your hard drive and data stored on it. Read this complete guide to learn some quick fixes that you may perform to fix this error. If you couldn't take the back-up of your data stored on the drive for any reason, try a professional Windows Data Recovery tool - Stellar Data Recovery Software to recover it. Download the trial version now.
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I tried to format my hard drive, but Windows was unable to complete the formatting. It prompted an error message – Invalid media or Track 0 bad – disk unusable. What are the causes? How can I fix it and format the drive? Any help would be appreciated!
The error – Invalid media or Track 0 bad disk unusable (See Image 1) is related to Track 0, the hard drive’s first sector. If you encounter this error while formatting your hard drive, you may not be able to access the data in it. We have shared some useful methods in this blog to help you fix this error. However, before solving this error, let’s know about Track 0 and its causes.
| If the data is essential and you couldn’t take its back-up earlier, you may recover data using a professional data recovery tool even from a formatted drive. |
What is Track 0, and why it becomes unusable?
Track 0 is located at the beginning of the hard drive that stores the partition table of the disk and Master Boot Record (MBR). The MBR consists of an initial executable code to boot the Operating System (OS). This information is essential for a drive to boot and function properly.
If the MBR or partition table gets damaged or corrupted, you may lose access to the drive and encounter this error.
Other Reasons for the error- Invalid media or Track 0 bad – disk unusable
This error also may occur due to the following reasons:
- The drive is not configured correctly
- Bad sectors on the hard drive
- Corrupted drive partition
- Hard drive with Unallocated space in Disk Management
- Write-protection enabled on the drive
Methods to Fix Error – Invalid media or Track 0 bad disk unusable
Method 1: Rebuild MBR
If the drive’s MBR is corrupted, you may encounter this error. You may Rebuild MBR to fix the issue with the following steps:
a. Press Windows + S and type cmd to open Command Prompt.
b. Type the following commands respectively:
- bootrec /fixmbr.
- bootrec /fixboot.
- bootrec /rebuildbcd.
(See Image 2)
c. Once done, close the Command Prompt and check if the error is fixed.
Method 2: Try Formatting with DiskPart Utility
Try formatting the hard drive/USB/SD card, etc. using DiskPart utility. This command-line utility helps in quick formatting the drive partitions or changing them to NTFS or FAT32.
Follow the given steps:
a. Open Command Prompt and type diskpart command. Hit Enter.
b. Then type list disk and press Enter.
c. Now, type Select Disk 0 and hit Enter. (Disk 0 is the drive with the error.) (See Image 3)
d. Next, type clean > create partition primary and hit Enter.
e. Afterward, assign letter=H and hit Enter (where letter H is the new letter assigned to your drive).
f. Now, type format fs=fat32 quick or fs=ntfs quick and press Enter. (See Image 4)
g. Once the process is completed, type Exit to close the Command Prompt and check if it’s fixed.
[Caution: Performing this method will format the partitions, wiping out the entire data stored on the drive. To recover data from formatted partitions, you may use a Professional Windows data recovery software.]
Method 3: Run CHKDSK Command
The error’ Invalid media or Track 0 bad disk unusable’ may also occur due to bad sectors on the drive. If Windows can’t complete the drive formatting and prompts this error message, the chances are that your drive is corrupt. Run CHKDSK command to fix the corrupted drive or drive with bad sectors with the following steps:
| Note: The CHKDSK command scans and fixes the drive corruption. It also marks down the bad sectors on the drive and helps Windows understand not to read or store the bad sectors’ data, which results in complete data loss. However, you may recover files lost after using the CHKDSK command using a professional data recovery software. |
Follow the below-given steps:
a. Press Windows + X and select Command Prompt (Admin).
b. Type chkdsk /f :/f and press Enter. (See Image 5)
Method 4: Try formatting in Windows Disk Management
Sometimes, when you connect your drive on PC, it doesn’t show in the file explorer, due to which you may not be able to format your drive, and this error may occur. The reason could be no letter assigned to the drive. You may check your drive in Disk Management and assign a letter and file system to the drive using the following steps:
a. Open Disk Management, locate, and select your drive.
b. If the drive shows as Unallocated, right-click on the drive, and select New Simple Volume. (See Image 6)
c. Click Next to proceed. Click Next again on the next open window.
d. On Assign Drive Letter or Path window, select Assign the following drive letter: and choose a letter from the drop-down list and click Next. (See Image 7)
e. On the next prompt, select Format this volume with the following settings.
f. Select NTFS as the drive’s file system, and click Next. (See Image 8)
g. Click Finish on the next prompt to complete the process.
If you can access the drive from File Explorer, you may try formatting the drive by following the given steps:
a. Open File Explorer, right-click on the drive, and click ‘Format?‘ (See Image 9)
b. In the next open window, choose NTFS as the drive’s file system, select Quick Format, and click OK to initiate the process. (See Image 10)
c. Follow further instructions given on-screen (if any).
d. Wait until the process is finished and then check if the problem is solved.
Method 5: Disable Write-Protection
If the write-protection on your drive is enabled, there may be chances that you won’t be able to format it and may encounter the error message “Invalid media or Track 0 bad disk unusable.” To fix this, you need to disable the write-protection switch in the drive. If you can’t find it, use DiskPart utility. Follow the given steps:
a. Open Command Prompt, type diskpart, and press Enter.
b. Click “Yes” and provide permission to run diskpart.
c. Then type the following commands in the given order:
- List volume
- Select volume 4 (Replace the letter 4 with the letter of your drive)
- Attributes disk clear readonly
(See Image 11)
d. Wait until the process is done. Once the process is finished, type exit, and close the Command Prompt.
The error is fixed, but what about my data? I couldn’t take the back-up before formatting the drive. Can I still get it back?
Yes! You may recover your essential data with a Windows Data Recovery Software such as Stellar Data Recovery Professional.
This easy-to-use, yet powerful data retrieval tool can efficiently extract lost or deleted files, folders, photos, documents, and more from Windows PCs and storage media devices. The tool can get back the data even from formatted, corrupted, or damaged drives. You can also use this software to retrieve your favorite photos, videos, or audios from missing, deleted, or lost drive partitions.
Note: If your storage media gets physically crashed or damaged, reach out to data recovery services experts. The data recovery specialists can get back your data even from water tempered, physically damaged, or partially burnt devices.
Wrapping Up
‘Invalid media or Track 0 bad disk unusable’ can occur at any moment due to several reasons, as explained above. This error makes you lose access to your drive and its data. To get rid of this error and successfully format your drive, you may try different methods such as Rebuilding MBR, formatting drive using DiskPart, running CHKDSK command, or disabling write-protection. However, if you couldn’t take the back up and lose data due to this error, you may use a powerful data recovery software, i.e., Stellar Data Recovery Software. This data retrieval tool can restore data from formatted or corrupted Windows PCs and storage drives, including HDDs, USBs, SSDs, SD cards, etc. You can get back all kinds of data with this tool.
If you have any queries, let us know in the comment section below!
