how to fix file or directory is corrupted and unreadable windows 11,10,8,7

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how to fix file or directory is corrupted and unreadable windows 11,10,8,7
Fix The File or Directory Is Corrupted and Unreadable in Windows 11/10/8/7

When you encounter the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable, you may use feasible ways to solve the problem quickly.
The File or Directory Is Corrupted and Unreadable Symptoms
Sometimes, when you plugged in an external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card, or some other storage devices into your computer runs Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista or some other previous versions, Windows prompts an error message: "Drive H:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.".
What does it mean when the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable? The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable is a common error that always appears when you connect an external storage device, including external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card and more, to a Windows computer, no matter which system version it runs, Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8 or 7. Once you see this error message, you'll be unable to access the data in your external storage devices.
Methods to Fix The File or Directory is Corrupted and Unreadable Windows Error Issue
The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable
he file or directory is corrupted and unreadable error message can cause a lot of problems on your PC can prevent you from accessing certain files. However, there’s a way to fix this problem, and in this article, we’re going to show you what causes this error and how you can fix it on your PC.

Quite a few people have lost important data from their PCs due to hard drive errors. A common error on the Windows OS is the one that many will identify with The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable popup message.

The error prevents you from accessing, copying, renaming, or other things you may want to do with the files stored on a hard drive partition on your PC. You can encounter this error with other file storage devices like external hard drives, USB thumb drives, removable hard disks, and flash memory cards.

What causes this error? How do you recover your data? And, most importantly, how do you fix the error and prevent it from happening again?

Format the flash drive
Use Chkdsk Windows Utility to repair file system errors
Use a third-party software
Reinstall Windows
What causes the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable error?
This error is usually a result of some form of file corruption or damage to the external data storage devices on which the affected files are stored. Because of this you can’t access the files or do what you want with them. This is bad news if you have important data stored on the affected files.

But how do hard drives files get corrupted in the first place?

Corrupted MFT (Master File Table)

In most cases, this is a consequence of how you use and care for your hard drives. For one, pulling the external hard drive cable from the PC’s USB port before the computer is done copying a file, or while it executes some other command related to the external hard drive is known to corrupt your files.

Usually, it’s the MFT that’s corrupted. The MFT is part of the NFTS file system that handles file storage. It is where all file access permissions are granted and where information about file sizes and names, as well as where the creation and last edit times are recorded. Once this MFT is corrupted access to your files is blocked.

Make sure you have released the external storage devices from all the programs Windows may be running on them before you pull them from the PC. The safest way to eject external hard drives is by clicking on the drive icon on the Windows Explorer window.

Physical damage to external hard drive

Sometimes the cause of hard drive failure and the subsequent ‘the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable’ error is physical damage to the external hard drive itself.

Still, in some cases, only select partitions of an external hard drive could be generating the error message. The other partitions could be working just fine. This reduces the likelihood the error could be a result of virus infection or any physical damage to the hard drive.

How can I fix the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable?

Regards
Quazi Mahmudul Huq
Senior Faculty
IT System Admin
MCT, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, RHCSA, RHCE
RHCSV, CCNA, CCNP, MTCNA, MTCRE