Windows 10: "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable" Seagate Backup +

I just moved from 64 bit Windows 7 to 10 so I backed everything on my 4TB Seagate Backup Plus external drive. I also have Carbonite so all is not lost if it comes to that. I made a base Image using Macrium Reflect that I still would like to get back though.

Anyway the drive was working fine until I remotely (from my chair downstairs) was doing things on my PC. I occasionally take over my computer remotely if I'm watching tv and remember I need to do something. So I was in the process of moving files from the Backup Plus to Windows 10 that's when the drive locked up. I went upstairs and got on my computer and found out Windows 10 was now not recognizing the Backup Plus. Rebooting didn't help so I shut the drive off overnight and plugged it back in today but now get "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable".

Disk Management shows ok and I ran Seagate's SeaTools for Windows in "Short Drive Self Test" mode and it also shows 'Pass".

I tried Recuva and a scan showed a lot of files but I'm not exactly sure how to use this... I set option to scan for undeleted files. I then made a folder on my C drive desktop to dump everything but then it says "These file names are too long to be recovered to the selected destination (634). Do you want to change the destination folder." Anyway so where is it wanting me to put everything?

I really don't think I know what I'm doing. Maybe I'm going at this all wrong could someone list the steps (and software) I should be doing to (1) recover my files and (2) what I need to do to use the Backup Plus drive again. Thanks! Mike

:)

 

Well didn't expect this but after connecting/disconnecting the Backup Plus a few times Windows 10 notified me there was an issue with the drive and wanted permission to fix it. Took about 30 seconds to fix wow what surprise! Hopefully this is a permanent fix and not reoccurring.

 

Nice to see it fixed it, reading this would of been my first suggestion to try error checking, OS alerted you to it, good.
Always rerun it, when right click and select properties of this drive under Tools tab.

Also when removing the drive try using safely remove in notification area regularly to save from corruption to external drive.

 

how about changing a new recovery software to retrieve data.
It seems that there is something wrong with the file system and directory. Possibly, the MFT is kind of damaged. the light side is that the problem is logical and the hard drive is fine. Thus you can fix the error with certain tools.
since current recovery software doesn't work, then you can try other programs. when file are completely retrieved, you can perform chkdsk to fix errors in file system, after which you might be able to open it again. How to Fix- The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable error