“The File Or Directory Is Corrupted And Unreadable”

You often get “The File or Listing is Corrupted and Unreadable” error whereas attempting to open a corrupt exterior drive or one which has the RAW file format. Nonetheless, you may also encounter it whereas attempting to open recordsdata in your native drives or an accessible exterior drive.

You possibly can simply clear up the logical disk corruption problem with the disk-checking utility. Having mentioned that, to troubleshoot for different causes, you’ll want to apply extra strategies, which we have now defined down under.

Causes for “The File or Listing is Corrupted and Unreadable” Error

How to Repair “The File or Listing is Corrupted and Unreadable” Error

First, strive restarting your system and test for those who nonetheless get this error message whereas opening or shifting the file or folder. Should you do, apply the attainable options we have now talked about under.

Transfer Recordsdata to One other Location

The very first thing you must do if some recordsdata are exhibiting this problem is to maneuver or copy them to a different location and test if it nonetheless reveals this error. You are able to do so no matter whether or not you encountered this problem in your inner disk or an exterior one. If the actual drive has corrupted sectors, attempting to restore it would destroy the information.

• Attempt copying the file to a different drive and test if it reveals the identical error within the new location.
• If sure, copy it to a different working pc or different system and test once more.

Run CHKDSK Utility

The commonest purpose for this error is the corruption of disk sectors. So, you’ll want to run the CHKDSK utility to scan for and restore such errors. It resolves the logical partition errors and marks the broken sectors as inaccessible in order that your system skips these sectors throughout its read-write operations.

Nonetheless, this course of might have an effect on the information within the broken sectors, so be sure to get well them beforehand.

First, you’ll want to be sure the drive just isn’t write-protected as CHKDSK can’t run on these drives. So, test if there’s a bodily write-protection change and disable it. In any other case,

1. Press Win + R to open Run.
2. Enter diskpart to open this Command line.
3. Enter the next instructions:
   • record quantity (test the amount variety of the drive)
   • choose quantity # (change # with the amount quantity from above)
   • attributes quantity clear readonly
   • exit

Then, you should use CHKDSK utilizing the steps under:

1. Open Run.
2. Kind cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open the Elevated Command Immediate.
3. Enter the command: chkdsk /r /x <drive letter>. Make sure that to interchange <drive letter> with the suitable drive letter, e.g., F: or G:

If CHKDSK appears caught for greater than 4 hrs, power shut down your PC and take a look at once more.

Change SATA Mode in BIOS

Most trendy {hardware} can solely help SATA with AHCI (Superior Host Controller Interface). Older disks require you to function the SATA on IDE (Built-in Drive Electronics) mode.

So for those who encounter this problem on a SATA-connected disk, inner or exterior, you’ll want to be sure your BIOS has the proper configuration for this mode. Right here’s how you are able to do so:

1. Get to BIOS/UEFI in your PC.
2. Seek for SATA Mode or an analogous setting. You possibly can often discover it inside Storage Configuration. We suggest checking the official web site to be taught the precise possibility and the way to get there.
3. Set the SATA Mode to AHCI if it’s a more recent system, else set it to IDE.
   
4. Save modifications and exit the BIOS/UEFI.

You possibly can cycle via all of the choices for this setting within the BIOS till you resolve the problem. If the choices don’t assist, set the mode to AHCI except you’re utilizing older {hardware} and transfer on to the successive answer.

Rename Recordsdata in Linux System

One other attainable purpose for the error is that the file’s title doesn’t match the Windows naming conference. In such a situation, operating CHKDSK offers some error message that claims the recordsdata within the listing are incorrect.

• You must rename the recordsdata to resolve the problem. You possibly can’t achieve this on a Windows system, so we suggest utilizing a Linux system to rename the file.
• After renaming the recordsdata, switch them again to Windows and test if the problem reoccurs.

Rebuild the Mission

This problem additionally happens when you find yourself constructing an executable file for a software program mission on account of points with the cache or different short-term causes.

• You possibly can resolve this problem by cleansing the mission after which rebuilding it. You would possibly have to delete the short-term recordsdata or caches earlier than rebuilding it.
• The method to take action will depend on the software program program you’re utilizing, so search assist from official web sites to be taught the situation of the cached recordsdata.

Update Windows

This drawback additionally used to happen in Windows Server 2003 with NTFS file system. It occurred while you use a program to maneuver and rename a file on the similar time.

The completely different NTFS threads deal with the transfer and rename operations individually, which might trigger the file system to assume the mum or dad folder’s title is similar even after shifting it to a different location. So opening the file offers this error message.

Microsoft has already launched fixes for this problem within the subsequent updates. However, we will’t make certain that such points received’t happen once more sooner or later. So, it’s all the time best to maintain your system totally up to date. And for those who encounter this problem, report it to Microsoft to allow them to shortly launch the bug fixes.

Format Drive

If a number of recordsdata within the drive have the identical problem or CHKDSK couldn’t restore the sectors, it signifies the bodily corruption of the disk or drive. So, your drive is probably going failing.

In such circumstances, you’ll want to format the drive. You additionally have to format the drive whether it is in RAW format (test from the Disk Administration utility).

Formatting erases all of the contents of the drive so you’ll want to again up all uncorrupted recordsdata. It’s also possible to strive restoring the vital corrupt contents utilizing recovery software program.

Then, format the exterior drive utilizing the steps under:

1. Proper-click on the drive within the file explorer and choose Format.
2. Set the settings you need and click on Begin.|
3. After formatting, click on OK.

Now, transfer a file to this location and test if the problem reoccurs. If it does, you’ll want to use the Diskpart Command line (CLI) to format the drive:

1. Open Run and enter diskpart to open this CLI.
2. Enter the next instructions:
   • record disk
   • choose disk X (change X together with your disk quantity)
   • clear
   • create partition main
   • format fs=ntfs
   • exit
     
3. If the clear command doesn’t work, strive utilizing clear all. Additionally, you should use different file methods like fat32 or exfat as a substitute of ntfs.

If the drive’s bodily quantity reduces after the format, it’s failing and you’ll want to change it quickly.

Moreover, if you’re experiencing this problem on an inner disk, your final resort is to scrub set up Windows after backing up the mandatory recordsdata.