Can’t read from the source file or disk

[matthewgordon]

Hi all,

I've been pulling my hair out (or what I have left of it) trying to transfer video files from a external hard disk to my PC.

When I try to transfer I get "can’t read from the source file or disk" for all video files.

The weird thing is, the files play fine from the external hard disk and when I perform a disk check, it returns no errors. I have tried to perform a chkdsk but this gets stuck. I'm running a chkdsk overnight to see if it completes.

I've tried to backup the drive to the PC using backup software, this fails. I've also tried to compress individual files on the hard disk, this also fails. I paid for a video repair tool, which also failed. Lots of fails

I'm running Windows 10.

Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ubuysa]

This isn't that uncommon and there are a number of possibilities....

What is the rough size of these video files? And what format is the external drive they are on (NTFS, FAT32, EXT4...)? If both drives are NTFS then this shouldn't be an issue.

When you run chkdsk on the source drive use the chkdsk /f command initially. This will find and repair any file system errors on the drive. If that runs clean then try a chkdsk /r command. This will find and 'repair' any bad sectors on the drive. Be aware that it doesn't recover the data in a bad sector, it simply allocates a spare sector to replace it and any data in that bad sector will be lost, so this may destroy some data.

Temporarily change the power plan for your PC to 'high performance' (via the Power & Sleep settings). This will make sure the hard disks are not being turned off to save power.

The difference between playing them and copying them is that when played only a buffer full of data is read at a time but when being copied the whole file is read, so anything that temporarily disconnects the external drive will be recoverable when playing but not when copying. It could even be a wobbly or flaky USB connection...

If all else fails try using the player to save the files to a different location. The VLC player for example, can save files to a different location or disk.