How to Resolve an Error - “The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable”

Where there is a will, there is a way. Every problem has its own solution, hidden somewhere else near to that. More or less, we have to explore the scenario by maintaining the relationship between the cause & effect bridge and find the perfect way to get rid. If we talk about electromagnetic devices like Windows PC, Mac, Linux then every user must have faced an error of hard drive corruption or the file corrupted and unreadable etc. Few options like drive formatting option and replacing backup up drive with a corrupted one are left feasible for those.

The corruption in hard drive is caused generally due to improper ways of handling the drive, corruption of file system, virus infection, and other such causes like electronic circuit board. Usually, Windows experts execute this command in cmd window by entering and running via Administrator mode. (Start> All Programs> Accessories. Right-click on Command Prompt icon and select 'Run as administrator')

chkdsk x: /f

This command correct errors and make an external hard drive accessible again.

But what if, the same error (File corrupted & unreadable) happens with Mac users. Their systems hung for a long time near about 25 minutes and they don't want to format Mac HDD and also unable to remove the drive safely as it prompts, 'drive is in use'

 

file corrupted error in Mac

• Firstly the rest of the data can be transfered by copying to another Drive

If Mac HDD is not corrupted completely then the rest of the data can be saved by copying to another drive by imaging method. After it, drive can be formatted to install a new file system. If the drive gets formatted successfully then image can be extracted with the help of a software to get the data back onto drive.

Be careful while transferring the files onto another external drive, please don't copy the corrupted files.

If your drive is under warranty then return to the manufacturer for complete diagnostic and for troubleshooting potential hard drive problems.

• Use Time Machine to search the file

If one of your file and folder is unreadable then Time machine is another option to get that data back. All you need to do is search via Time Machine with proper date and name. All it is possible if the whole set up for data backup has already been done for Time Machine.

• Use Disk Utility to Rectify Error

If drive is not able to read the data then Disk Utility can be used to correct error. Even DU also ends up at a point of time during rectification and says,

Invalid Data Structure Invalid B-tree node size Invalid node structure

The above mentioned tricks don't work well always and lead to the last option of choosing a Mac Data recovery software.

• Mac Data Recovery Software

Nearly everybody loses files accidentally. When we loose the important data then firstly we try to recover it from Trash. What if, the Trash bin is empty? At this scenario, third party Mac data recovery applications come into existence to undelete Mac files fortunately. There are plenty of utilities which list the deleted files before recovery and user can recover as he desires either upto 2GB or 2TB.

One of the best and efficient software which I know very well is Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery software. It can recover deleted data upto 2TB from formatted drives and even from empty trash too with original names. It supports FAT, ExFAT, and NTFS file systems and compatible with the latest version OS X Mavericks. 

 

Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery Software

In a nutshell, if your drive is corrupted or unreadable and if you have nothing backed up then follow the above mentioned tricks to resolve the issue or choose a Mac Data Recovery software to regain Mac data.