When faced with multiple errors, some users went to the Event Viewer and noticed that they have Event ID 7 with an error message that says The device, \Device\Harddisk0\DR0, has a bad block. Folks have also seen this error when their computer failes to boot with error message Default Boot Device Missing or Boot Failed. The error indicates there could be a Bad Block on your hard disk, as a result of which your system failed to work as expected, crashed or could not boot at all.
What is a Bad Block on a hard drive?
A bad block is a physical or logical damage on the hard disk. It is usually caused when the magnetic media of the device has been malfunctioned. There are two types of Bad Sectors or Blocks on a hard drive, they can be Physical (Hard) or Logical (Soft). Physical damage is caused when the head of the drive touches the cluster of storage or if some dust gets accumulated on the surface of the device. Whereas, Local damage happens when the OS fails to access the data from a particular block and it marks it as bad. This usually happens due to corrupted files or viruses or some other kind of malicious files.
Fix The device, \Device\Harddisk0\DR0, has a bad block, Event ID 7
If you get The device, \Device\Harddisk0\DR0, has a bad block, Event ID 7 on your Windows computer, follow the solutions mentioned below.
- Use Macrorit Disk Scanner to scan Hard Disk for Bad Sectors
- Run the Repair-volume command
- Run command line ChkDsk
- Run SFC and DISM
- Clean your hard drive or consult a hardware expert
If you can boot to dektop, then you can carry out the suggestions directly. But if you cannot boot normally you may have to try and boot in Safe Mode or into Advanced Startup options screen to be able to carry out the fixes. You may have to make use of the Command line.
1] Use Macrorit Disk Scanner to scan Hard Disk for Bad Sectors
Macrorist Disk Scanner is a tool that you can use to scan your computer for bad sectors. Since the issue is caused due to bad sectors, this tool will help you identify anf fix bad blocks.
Read: Free software to Fix & Repair Bad Sectors
2] Run the Repair-volume command
The repair-volume command helps you in repairing your hard disk. It scans an entire volume and then runs the repair command to fix the issue. In order to run the command, open PowerShell as an administrator. You can just search out PowerShell from the Start Menu, right-click on it, and select Run as administrator. Now, run the following commands
Repair-Volume drive-letter –Scan
Repair-Volume drive-letter –OfflineScanAndFix
Repair-Volume drive-letter –SpotFix
Note: Replace ‘the drive-letter with the actual letter of the drive you want to repair.
Once done, restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved.
Read: The IO operation at logical block address for Disk 0 was retried
3] Run command line ChkDsk
Another command that can be used to repair the hard drive is Check Disk. It is a utility that scans your hard drive, looks for bad sectors, and repairs them. It is a simple command and gets the job done more often than not.
You can follow the steps given below to run the CHKDSK command to resolve Event ID 7.
- Hit Win + R, type “cmd”, and hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
- Click Yes when prompted by UAC.
- Paste chkdsk /f /r and hit Enter.
- Type Y and hit Enter when prompted.
Once the command has finished its job successfully, reboot your system and check if the issue is resolved.
4] Run SFC and DISM
System File Checker and Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management are tools that can help you to repair system files. So, in case, the disk error is caused due to corrupted system files. These commands will do the job for you.
5] Clean your hard drive or consult a hardware expert
If you are on a desktop and can clear your hard drive, do that. As mentioned earlier, there are two types of bad blocks, and if executing the aforementioned solutions didn’t work for you, we suspect that your hard drive has an area where dust and debris are accumulated. If you are confident enough, clean the device, and if you can’t contact a hardware expert.
Hopefully, you will be able to resolve the issue using the solutions mentioned in this post.
Read: Bad Sectors were encountered during the format
How do I fix event ID 7?
Event ID 7 is caused due to bad sector on the hard disk. The only way to resolve the error is by repairing the bad sector. The sector can be logical or physical. You can follow the solutions mentioned in this post to resolve Event ID 7.
How do I fix a bad disk block?
There are multiple Windows utilities to fix bad disk blocks. We have the Chkdsk tool and Repair-Volume commands and some other free software that can be deployed in this case.
