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Location is not available... the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable

I occasionally use an old Toshiba laptop with Windows 10. I tried to access some Word and PDF files in Dropbox from the C: drive and got the error message: "Dropbox is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable." The documents still exist on the Dropbox website and I can access and open them from my phone and another desktop we have at home, so the issue is with my laptop's C: drive.

I did not recently install any new software although an automatic Windows update occurred in the last 10 days or so. I tried to run DSKCHK, both scheduled and by manually rebooting so that it executed on StartUp, but it doesn't run.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

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Chris G.12

"Location is not available" (personal information removed) and "the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable" when accessing file in Windows 7.. Yet luckily I can still open the folder going through a browser to access Dropbox, open files, etc

Can you run any troubleshooting software to identify which file(s) in [personal information removed] are causing the issue? I tried to run something that said a bunch of Pandas were identifying the bad files but then a red rectangle appeared at the top saying the program had quit running. A little help please?

theresamccarthy

This is happening to me as well. Really need assistance. Thank you.

Jane

Hey

@steve12955

, thanks for checking in on our Community, I hope you’ve had a great day so far!

I've already checked back on your open ticket on our system, though I'll re-phrase the troubleshooting suggested by my colleague, in case someone experiences the same issue (or just so as to leave this open for further suggestions).

Based on your description, you’re experiencing an underlying syncing issue &, to my mind, your best bet at the moment would be to disable any Security/Antivirus programs are running in the background & give our offline installer a try:

https://www.dropbox.com/downloading?plat=win&type=full (Windows)

Once you do, please keep me updated on your results in your next post (I’d also appreciate any visuals or additional troubleshooting you’ve done on your own), so that we work on that together as closely as possible!

steve12955

Hi Jane, thanks for replying. I reinstalled Dropbox by temporarily disabling Norton anti-virus but no change other than DB version 52.4.58 is now installed. I can access my DB-saved files by going through the DB website or clicking on the icon in the taskbar but if I try going through its typical path on the C: drive hwre the docs were originally saved I get the "...not available...corrupted and unreadable" message. I right-clicked on the DB icon and used Microsoft's Troubleshoot Compatibility function but it hangs up when I try to test the settings using Windows 8 which is the default Windows version that appears. Windows 10 Home Edition was installed or updated on 5/24/18 and is what's installed now.

I don't believe any other apps or updates other than Windows happened in the last three weeks or so. The problem with accessing DB-saved files began last Thursday 6/14. It's worked perfectly ever since DB was first installed years ago.

It may be outside your domain but CHKDSK won't run when I schedule it for start-up so I can't use this feature to find out what the issue is. Any other ideas are appreciated.

Thanks, Steve

Rich

You disabled Norton for the reinstall, but have you temporarily disabled it and tested to see if the problem continues while it's disabled?

steve12955

Hi Rich, yes I tested it while both Norton Smart Firewall and Norton Auto-Protect were disabled. I continue to get the error message. Again, the files are accessible from my phone and desktop, both of which have the Norton Suite installed. It's only the laptop that's problematic. It doesn't recognize the path: C:\Users\Laptop\Dropbox. Word and Excel docs, PDFs and photos are all affected.

When I run chkdsk it tells me that the drive is in use and has to run at startup. I restart it but don't believe chkdsk runs since I read that it's supposed to take a while to scan the drive - it starts up normally. I also read that repeatedly hitting F8 at startup no longer works with Windows 10 to start it in Safe Mode so that a scan can be done.

Jane

Thanks for your prompt update here @steve12955!

I understand that you'd need some further assistance, therefore I'd advise getting back to my colleague on your open ticket, as they have direct access to your account specifics via our official support channel. I can see that they’re currently awaiting your next message after your discussion there.

Please include all relevant details on this email chain (eg. as this is specific to your device’s setup, any visuals you could include on that correspondence would help expedite matters) & rest assured that my coworkers will do their best to help you over.

I hope this gets resolved soon for you & I’m always here if you have more questions or you’d like to share your thoughts!

steve12955

Thanks again for your assistance but the problem persists. I'd like to keep this chat open and will follow up with Ken to keep the case open. Thanks.

Jane

Sure, that’s why I‘m here @steve12955, let me follow-up in a little bit more info below!

You may keep in mind that open requests may close automatically on our system after a certain period of inactivity, therefore if you’d like to keep your correspondence with my colleague open, all you need to do is reply back to his email asking him for more time, so as to gather more info.

Don’t worry if your ticket closes though, as our system lets us track down previous requests, so any troubleshooting done will not be lost.

I hope that this brings a bit more clarity & please do let me know here if you still need assistance in any way. Happy Friday!

smarquina

Did anyone get an answer to fixing this problem? Thanks!

smarquina

Did anyone get an answer to fixing this problem? Thanks!

@Chris G.12 wrote:
"Location is not available" (personal information removed) and "the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable" when accessing file in Windows 7.. Yet luckily I can still open the folder going through a browser to access Dropbox, open files, etc

Can you run any troubleshooting software to identify which file(s) in [personal information removed] are causing the issue? I tried to run something that said a bunch of Pandas were identifying the bad files but then a red rectangle appeared at the top saying the program had quit running. A little help please?

Luffy

Hey there @smarquina - welcome to the Forums!

What does your desktop app report when you mouse over the little Dropbox icon next to the clock? Can you give this tool a go to see if there are incompatible characters in your files' names? Note that this error is a generic Windows error and there are quie a few factors that could be causing it - you can run a quick google search to see all about it. Is it possible that you have moved your Dropbox Folder to an external drive? Is it on a supported file system with all the appropriate drivers ( NTFS should do the job for Windows computers)?

Note that a screenshot of the exact error you get is always helpful too. Hope this helps point you to the right direction and please let me know what you find!

Cheers!

steve12955

Hi - I'm still having the issue. I've tried a number of ways to use CHKDSK to check my C: drive (CHKDSK c:). While running CHKDSK I get a message saying: "Attribute record (A0, $I30) from file record segment 552 is corrupt."

Then it shows "1369344 file records processed."

Then on the next line: "Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode."

I've also tried running CHKDSK with /f and /r to repair the error - but they don't work.

Jane

Thanks for looping back to me here @steve12955, let’s investigate the possible cause of the error you’re getting in a bit more depth & we’ll take it from there!

I was able to run a search on my end for some tips on this error message, let’s recap you previous points & we’ll take it from there.

For starters, as you’ve mentioned that you’re trying to access you files from your C:\ drive, can you also clarify whether you had moved Dropbox on a removable drive previously? Had you installed Dropbox its default location on your Toshiba device?

If the Dropbox folder resided in a different location on your device, can you let me know whether the drive was formatted to a supported filesystem (ex. NTFS, HFS, ext4, APFS, which support extended attributes)? Any detail you could send me in regards to your previous setup (in relation to Dropbox) would be very helpful, so as to narrow down the possible causes.

Thanks for all your time & efforts & I’ll be awaiting your next update on this discussion here. Happy Friday Steve!

steve12955

Hi Jane,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, I did not move my Dropbox location nor install it on another device. It's been part of my laptop's C: drive since it was originally installed years ago. As mentioned, it appears the files are accessible from my phone and desktop - it's only the Toshiba laptop that is problematic.

I reached out to Microsoft's support community as well. Since I believe that a Windows 10 Security Update was installed a few weeks ago and the problem appeared soon after, they suggested uninstalling it and provided instructions on how to do it. I'll try that and will report back to you.

Thanks,

Steve