How to Repair Track 0 Bad (and Recover Lost Data) [MiniTool Tips]

Invalid Media or Track 0 Bad - Disk Unusable

Q: I format my micro SD card, but Windows fails to complete this task and prompts an error message as follows:

Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable.

Generally, a lot of users have encountered track 0 bad error message according to a survey.

As a matter of fact, if "invalid media or track 0 bad - disk unusable" error occurs to SD card, USB flash drive, HDD and other disks after format failed, it means that the position of track 0 is bad. If there is bad track, you can't open your SD card, USB drive or other drives.

Here, I guess you might be interested in this post: How Do I Solve USB Drive Cannot be Opened in Windows 7/8/10.

Therefore, before repairing track 0 bad, you had better take the last chance to recover lost data from SD card, USB drive, HDD, etc., because any accident during repair could result in data loss permanently.

Now, you might be wondering:

"How to recover lost precious pictures as well as videos from SD card which reports invalid media or track 0 bad error?

Want to know the best way?

Part 1. Recover Data from SD Card which Reports Track 0 Bad Error

Here, we offer 2 effective solutions to help you recover lost photos and videos from SD card before you repair track 0 bad.

Solution 1. Use a professional SD card data recovery software

If your SD card or other hard drive prompts invalid media or track 0 bad disk unusable error, you are recommended to recover lost data before repairing it. MiniTool Photo Recovery, a piece of professional and simple SD card photo recovery software developed by MiniTool Solution Ltd., is recommended here.

This read-only and professional data recovery software can help you effectively and quickly recover lost photos as well as videos from SD card without affecting the original data because of its excellent performance, simple operation and high security. Download this tool, and try it out.

Free Download

Next, let's see the detailed steps.

Step 1. Connect your SD card to PC. After that, launch MiniTool Photo Recovery, and then click on Startbutton on the main interface to start data recovery.

Step 2. Select the SD card which prompts invalid media or track 0 bad disk unusable error, and then click on Scan button.

If the SD card is not shown here, you can click on the Refresh button to make MiniTool Photo Recovery try to detect the drive again until it is displayed in this interface.

In this window, you can make use of the Setting feature if you only want to recover some certain types of photos.

For instance, if you only want to recover JPEG photos, you only need to check JPEG Camera File (*.jpg)and JPEG Graphics file (*.jpg) in the pop-out window, and then please click on OK button to confirm this setting.

Step 3. Select all needed files, click on Save button, and then click on Browse to select a suitable place to store them. Here, if you are recovering pictures, you can preview them before saving as shown below. Warning: Do not store needed files on the SD card. Otherwise, the original data could be overwritten and there is no way to recover them.

Thus, if you want to recover more lost data, you should get its advanced edition. And, MiniTool offers 3 options (personal, deluxe, and ultimate) to cater to the needs of different people. For more information, please see Welcome to MiniTool Photo Recovery 3.0!

Solution 2. Use another powerful data recovery tool to recover data

Alternatively, you can also use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover data from SD card which reports track 0 bad error. This professional file recovery software offers wizard-like interface as well as simple operations to help you effectively recover lost data without any difficulty.

The steps are:

Step 1. Download MiniTool Power Data Recovery, and then install it on computer. After that, plug the SD card into a card reader and then connect it to PC.

Free Download

Step 2. Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery, and then select a suitable data recovery module.

From the main interface, you can see this data recovery tool offers 4 data recovery modules to deal with different data loss scenarios.

This PC is selected by default, and focuses on recovering lost or deleted data from damaged, RAW or formatted partitions.

Removable Disk Drive is designed to recover lost photos, mp3/mp4 files, and videos from flash drives and memory sticks.

Hard Disk Drive can recover files after partition loss or deletion.

CD/DVD Drive helps to recover data from formatted or erased CD/DVD discs.

Here, you can choose Removable Disk Drive to continue.

Step 3. Select the SD card which prompts invalid media or track 0 bad disk unusable error, and then click Scan button.

Step 4. Select all needed files, click Save button and then choose a directory to store selected files on a safe place. It is recommended to store needed files on another drive.

After entering the scan result, you will be unable to recover the files then. If you find your needed files on the scan result, you can update this software to an advanced edition.

I effectively and quickly recovered lost data from my drive which reports invalid media or track 0 bad error without damaging the original data!Click to Tweet

With data safely transferred, you can begin to repair your SD card to move out the invalid media or track 0 bad error. However, how to fix track 0 micro SD?

Part 2. How to Repair Track 0 Bad

Before repairing track 0 bad, I guess some of you might want to know what is track 0 bad.

What Is Track 0

Track 0 is the area located at the start of a computer disk and typically consists of the first 63 sectors of the disk. It is predominantly used to store information regarding the layout of the disk (the partition table) and executable code needed to boot an operating system.

The first sector of track 0 is known as the master boot record (mbr) and contains the initial code used to boot the operating system (bootstrap code).

Track 0 is also the name of a terminate-and-stay-resident MS-DOS program, which allows users to revive floppy disks with defective first tracks by swapping it with another track under the hood.

In fact, track 0 is an area of the disk outside of the OS file system and not seen or used by most computer users (and therefore cannot be easily modified or replicated).

Once track 0 is bad, the master boot record and partition table will be damaged, and then you cannot access your drive. Now, what should you do if you encounter the same question? How to repair track 0 bad?

Helpful Article: When it comes to bad track, I guess you have probably heard bad sector! If you are interested, you can read this post: Bad Sector.

How to Fix Invalid Media or Track 0 Bad Disk Unusable

Solution 1. Shield bad track

If you cannot format your SD card and receive the "Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable" error, please transfer all data on the target disk out firstly and then use a piece of specific software to shield these logical bad tracks. If this solution cannot work, you can try remaking the track 0 position.

Solution 2. Re-mark the track 0 position

If your SD card or other storage device shows invalid media or track 0 bad error, you can re-mark the track 0 position to fix this issue by using some professional tools. Here, if you don't know how to fix track 0 micro SD issue, you can follow the track 0 bad repair tutorial with the help of PC Tools 9.0.

1. Connect a disk with PC Tools 9.0 to your PC.
2. Connect bootable disc to your PC, and then boot your system into DOS environment from this disc.
3. Use the tool's DE.EXE command to repair the track 0 bad.
4. Click on Options, then choose Configuration, and press Enter button to disable or remove the read-only mode to edit track 0. After that, save and exit it.
5. Choose Select, click on Drive, choose Drive Type, choose Physical, and then click on Hard disk and press Enter button to continue.
6. Now, you will see the Partition table. Find the Beginning Cylinder, where track 0 starts. Next, modify the number '0' to '1'. Ensure track 1 is not bad. After that, press Enter.
7. Click on Save to save the changes you have made and exit.
8. Restart PC and start afresh to format or partition the micro SD card or hard disk of which the track 0 was bad.

I solved the track 0 bad error by taking this solution. Here, if you still cannot find a suitable solution, you can try it.Click to Tweet

Solution 3. Replace it with a new drive

If you still receive the "Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable" error after trying the above 2 solutions, your track 0 bad might be caused by the failure of magnetic media on disc (maybe because of scratch or rough production process).

In this case, you can't repair it. And, the only solution is to abandon it and use a new one.

Part 3. One Useful Tip – Back up Data

Now, I guess you should be familiar with the track 0 bad issue. However, here, I want to emphasize the importance of backup files. The bad track includes physical bad track and logical bad track, and physical bad track makes you cannot read or open the drive. However, if you have made a backup file, you can avoid data loss.

Now, I guess you might be wondering:
"How to effectively and quickly back up files?"

MiniTool Partition Wizard, a free, professional and simple partitioning management software developed by a famous software development company based in Canada, is recommended here. This tool offers 2 excellent features to help you effectively back up data.

Copy Disk copies all partitions and data from one disk to another within several steps.

Copy Partition copies all data information from one partition to another without any data loss and in simple operations.

Bottom Line

Now, it's your turn to repair your track 0 bad!

If you have any other solutions on how to fix track 0 micro SD card, please share them with us by leaving them on the following comment zone. Thanks in advance!

If you have any questions about recovering lost data from drive which reports invalid media or track 0 bad error, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]. We will solve it one by one.