Fix The Disk Structure is Corrupted and Unreadable Error Easily

“The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable” is a common error in Windows. If you get this error when you’re connecting to your external hard drive to Windows, try the solutions we’ve listed here to fix it.

Four solutions for you to fix The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable error. You may not have to try them all; just work you way down the list until your problem is resolved.

Solution 1: Unplug and replug the drive

Solution 2: Uninstall and reinstall the device

Solution 3: Run CHKDSK to scan an repair the drive

Solution 4: Perform a data recovery

Solution 1: Unplug and replug the drive

The simple fix to The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable error is unplug and replug the drive. Firstly, unplug the drive from the computer. Secondly, plug the drive back  and ensure it’s plugged tightly, or Windows may not recognize your drive. Lastly, check to see if you can access your drive. If the problem persists, you can try Solution 2.

Solution 2: Uninstall and reinstall the device

If your system has a bad communicate with hard drive, you may run into The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable error. To fix the problem, you can try to uninstall the device and reinstall the device.

Here’s what you need to do to uninstall and reinstall the device:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key  and R key at the same time to invoke the run box.

2) Type devmgmt.msc in the run box and click on OK button.

3) Locate and expand the Disk drives category in the list.

4) Right-click on the problematic disk and select Uninstall device (your might see Uninstall here). After that, follow the on-screen instructions to uninstall the device.

As soon as you connect your drive to your computer, Windows assigns a drive letter to the drive. If you can’t identify the problematic drive in the Device Manager, you can use the drive letter to determine the problematic drive. To do so:

• Double click on one of the disks listed under the Disk drives category.
• In the Properties dialog box, click the Volumes tab and click Populate.
  

  

• In the Volumes section, you’ll see the listed drives, and the drive letter assigned to them. If you see your external’s drive letter here, you can uninstall the disk.
  

  

• Repeat the steps above to each disk until you find the problematic disk.

5) Click Action at the menu bar, and click Scan for hardware changes on the drop-down menu.

6) Check to see if you can access your external drive.

Solution 3: Run CHKDSK to scan an repair the drive

A corrupt driver can be what’s causing The Disk Structure is Corrupted and Unreadable error. You can run CHKDSK command to repair a corrupt drive. CHKDSK is Command Prompt command used to check a specified disk and repair or recover data on the drive if necessary.

To run the CHKDSK command, follow these steps.

1) Type cmd into the search box at the bottom left corner of the desktop.

2) Right-click Command Prompt  and select Run as administrator.

3) Type chkdsk x: /f /r (replace x with the drive letter of your external drive). Then press Enter on your keyboard. After that, Windows will start scanning the drive for the corrupted data and repair them automatically. The process may take a few minutes depending on the size of your drive. Please wait a moment until the produce is completed.

In the below example, the drive is  j, so the command would be chkdsk j: /f /r.

4) After the process completes, you’ll see the scanning result in the screen. Then you’ll know if any corrupted data is fixed.

TIP: If Windows provides an option for you to delete the corrupted files, it means the corrupted data is not able to be fixed with the CHKDSK command. If that’s the case, try Solution 4 to perform a data recovery.

Solution 4: Perform a data recovery

The solutions above may resolve the The Disk Structure is Corrupted and Unreadable Error, but if they don’t, you can use Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery to perform a data recovery. Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a known data recovery software around the world. With the friendly user interface, you can use it to recover any deleted, lost and corrupt data of your drive with just a few clicks.

1) Download and install Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery.

2) Launch Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery. Then select the type of data that you want to recover and click Next.

3) Select the external hard drive that you want to recover your lost data.

4) Click Turn on Preview to showing files while scanning.

5) Preview all recoverable data after completing scanning process. View & Sort results by File Type, Tree View, and Deleted List.

6) Select desired location and click Start Saving to save the recovered data.

Hopefully you’ve found the solutions here helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below. We’d love to hear of any suggestions or ideas.

By Camilla Mo

Camilla, a certified MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional), has almost four years technical writing experience. She is now the author of Super Easy. Before working as a writer, she was a technical support helping people to solve their computer problems. She enjoys providing solutions to computer problems and loves exploring new technologies.

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