How to solve the problem (the file or directory is corrupt and unreadable) in Windows
When you connect and open external storage such as an external hard disk (external hard disk), USB flash memory, and SD card in your Windows computer, you may encounter the error “The file or disk is corrupt and unreadable”. While such an error is very annoying, you may also have to sacrifice your data to get rid of this annoying error.
Fortunately, there are some software methods that you can apply to solve the “The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable” error that may appear when you want to open an external storage disk that you have connected to your computer using Windows, which we will explain step by step in this article.
Reasons for the occurrence of the “The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable” problem.
- Parts of the file system of the hard disk are corrupted or may have some errors.
- The external hard drive is infected with malware or virus. Malware or viruses may damage the hard drive or the data stored on it.
- Damage to the external hard drive itself, as a result of being hit on the ground or something like that.
- Incorrectly removing the external hard drive or USB flash drive from the computer causes its partitions to become corrupted.
- The computer's USB port is not working properly.
How to fix the problem that the file or directory is corrupt and unreadable
The question that comes to your mind when encountering this error is, how can you fix the error “The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable” without losing your data? In fact, there are some methods you can apply to solve the error. However, it is important that the external storage device is not damaged too much to have a solution and without data loss.
Method 1: Solve the error via the CMD command prompt screen:
- Open the Windows search bar next to the Start menu.
- Then type CMD and search.
- Run CMD Command Prompt as administrator by right-clicking on it and selecting Run As Administrator.
- At the command prompt screen, type the following command chkdsk /f h : and press Enter.
- The letter "h" in the command must be replaced with the letter of the hard drive that issued the error message.
- After the scan is finished, remove the storage disk from your computer.
- Then restart your computer.
- Reconnect the hard disk or USB flash drive to the computer, and check if the error persists.
Notably, the Command Prompt screen can be used to resolve the “The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable” error, as well as resolving many errors on Windows computers. When you type the above command, the system will scan the device and remove minor issues that cause these errors.
The CMD system tool may not be sufficient to resolve this error, but it is the first step to take when encountering this error.
Method 2: The solution using the EaseUS Partition Master program:
- Download EaseUS Partition Master from here and complete the installation process.
- Then run the program and find the hard drive that caused the error.
- Right-click on the disk and choose Check File System.
- On the next screen that opens to you, select the option to try to fix errors if any.
- Then click the Start button.
- The scan and repair will complete after a period of time depending on the size of the hard disk.
- Remove the hard drive from your computer.
- Then restart your computer.
- Connect the hard drive to the computer, and check if the error persists.
EaseUS Partition Master is a program developed to deal with hard disk errors such as “the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable” problem and similar disk errors. However, if you do not intend to use the long-term (paid) professional version, you can easily reach the solution to the error by using the free trial version of this software.
The free trial version of the software only allows you to use some basic services. And if you want more professional services, you can opt for paid subscriptions, but we hope that errors like “the file or directory are corrupted and unreadable” won’t happen too often to you, so we can say that only the free trial is enough for you to bypass this error.
Method 3: Recover files using EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard:
- Download EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard from here and complete the installation.
- Then run the program and find the disk that caused the error to appear.
- Select the disk and click the Scan option to scan for deleted files.
- As the scan progresses, the data on the device will start appearing, and the scan will complete after a period of time depending on the size of the hard drive.
- Select the files you want to recover, then click the Recovery option.
- Select the destination folder where you want to save the recovered files, then press the Save button.
- Do the same for all the files you want to recover.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a software developed to recover deleted data and files in internal and external storage devices in which errors such as “the file or directory are corrupted and unreadable” and the data in it cannot be accessed. And using the program in the free version, you can recover files up to 2 GB for free.
If none of the previous methods worked and you have no choice but to format the volume, use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard before you lose data with the formatting process and recover at least as much data as possible.
Method 4: Recover the volume through the formatting process:
- Connect the device that has the error to the computer.
- Open (This PC).
- Right-click on the device.
- Then click on the option (Initialize).
- You can modify the configuration options or leave them as the default.
- Click the Start button.
After the formatting process is complete remove the disc from your computer and restart your computer, then reconnect the device you formatted to your computer again and check if the error persists.
Don't forget to backup your data with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard beforehand. Even if the formatting method completely wipes the data, it is essential that you use the disabled hard drive safely later.