Windows 10: Can you fix corrupt files on external hard drive?

I stupidly moved instead of copied about 50 GB of videos and documents to an external hard drive. Everything was in one folder and I just moved it and went away from the computer for an hour or so figuring it would take a while. When I tried to look and make sure everything went alright some things opened up fine and others didn't respond at all and seemed to lock everything down. So I tried moving them back to the computer hard drive with similar results. I posted about this a week or so ago but since then have had some luck getting back about 20 GB by moving them back to the computer hard drive pretty much one at a time. Some of them would work and do fine. Others would seem to be working and then get so far along with the process and quit working. Some of them don't even try but instead everything seems to lock up and that blue circle thing goes around and around until I finally disconnect the external drive. During one attempt and only one of many attempts so far it gave the message: "The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error". Since then I haven't tried anything else but in looking at a few things about that message get the idea that maybe the files that don't respond got corrupted or something because I moved them incorrectly and maybe there is something that can clean things up on that external hard drive? When I check the properties on it it says it still has over 30 GB which would be right because what I moved was over 50 GB. So the info is probably still on there but messed up and maybe there's a way to fix it, or at least some of it? Here is information about my computer and the external drive if that can help tell anyone anything::Windows 10 Pro version 1903 OS build 18362.720 Installed RAM 12.0 GB (11.8 GB usable)Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-3220 CPU @ 3.30 GHz64-bit operating system, x64-based processorFile system: NTFS Used space: 170 GB Free space: 61.6 GBWDC WD2502ABYS-18B7A0 Disk drivesBaseBoard Manufacturer LENOVO Version Win8 Pro DPK TPG On the external hard drive it says: 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD External Case USB3. 0 Support 3TB it also has a list of things on the back, here are some of them:1. During format process, our hard disk will choose exFAT automatically as default efficient format. Please DO NOT select NTFS manually, this format is not supported by our hard disk, will cause disk crash.3. QC Passed, Hard Disk Formatted already before packing & shipping, there is no need to reformat when first use.2. Only Data Storage, Read & Write is supported on MAC OS, formatting is not supported on MAC OS otherwise it will damage the disk.4. Special attention to our products (partitions are not supported), partitioning will cause damage to the hard disk. For safer and longer service life, use it directly as one independent partition.I didn't try formatting or anything and it didn't say anything about it itself.Some people have suggested it's a PC trying to read MAC formatting or something like that or the cord it bad. But it's not something that is having a negative influence on everything on the drive, only on about 70% or so.Thank you for any help!DavidUSA

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CANNOT DELETE A CORRUPTED FILE ON MY EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE ON WINDOWS 10

Hi Leenus,

Hard drive and other external memory storage can be corrupted on account of bad sectors which are no longer accessible or writable due to permanent damage. Your device or hard drive could also be infected by some type of malware. These are some of the possible
causes why you are experiencing the error "ERROR 0x80070570: The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable". To address this concern, we suggest performing the following troubleshooting methods:

Method 1

Check and repair disk errors or corrupted file system. This process can fix "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable" error caused by bad sectors, virus infection or file system corruption. To do so, follow these steps:

• Back up all of the files on the hard drive (except for the corrupted file).
• Using Search, type CMD.
• From the search results, right-click on Command Prompt and then choose Run as administrator.
• On the Command Prompt window, type chkdsk /f h: (h stands for your hard drive) and then hit the Enter key.
• Delete the corrupted file and check if you'll experience the same error.

Method 2

Format the hard drive. You can manually format the hard drive to permanently remove "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable" error. These are the steps on how to format an external drive:

• Plug the hard drive into your computer.
• Back up all of the files on the hard drive (except for the corrupted file).
• Open File Explorer and then click This PC.
• Click the external hard drive's name, click on Manage tab and then click on Format.
  
• Click Start and then click OK.

Keep us updated with the result.

 

CANNOT DELETE A CORRUPTED FILE ON MY EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE ON WINDOWS 10

I had the very same problem and this worked perfectly!!!

 

External Hard Drive

Hi John,

We suggest that you try the troubleshooting steps below:

• Open your External Hard Drive file in File Explorer.
• Type the name of the file you want to search on the search box and click Enter.

The file will show up in Search Results and you will be able to move it to the correct folder.

Let us know if you need further help.