An error occurs when the structure of the disk is damaged or corrupted, it cannot be read, and there is no access to it; since the location is not available, it can occur due to bad sectors or if the structure of the MFT drive is damaged. This problem often appears on portable USB drives, SSD disks, and SD cards.
The critical point is that the user has connected a USB flash drive to a computer or laptop, and when safely removed, Windows will say that it cannot be removed since it is busy with another process. Next, the user manually removes the USB flash drive, which leads to damage.
We have discussed how you can fix the error when “The location is unavailable, and there is no access to the local disk: Disk Structure is Corrupted and Unreadable” on a USB flash drive, SD memory card, HDD or SSD disk in Windows 11.
How to Fix Windows 11 “Disk Structure is Corrupted and Unreadable” Error
Before proceeding with radical solutions, follow the easy recommendations below:
- Plug into a different USB port. If you are connected to the blue port (USB 3.0), try the black one (USB 2.0) since some SD cards, flash drives or disks cannot work correctly with the 3.0 port; in particular, this applies to windows tablets.
- If you are using a PC with a drive connected from the front, try connecting to the rear USB ports, or vice versa.
- Please turn off your computer or laptop, remove everything from the USB ports ( printer, scanner, flash drive ), and turn it on again. After booting to your desktop, insert the USB drive back and see if the error is resolved.
Method 1: Checking the CHKDSK drive
If the external Drive is unavailable and displayed as RAW, then a file system is absent due to corruption. Let’s run the built-in CHKDSK tool to fix the structure on the disk or flash drive. To do this, run Command Prompt as administrator and enter the below command:
-
chkdsk L: /f /r /x
Where L: is the letter of the connected local flash drive or disk. Replace it with your own. The process can be very lengthy, depending on the volume.
Method 2: Reinstall the external Drive
Removing the external drive driver and reinstalling it can fix the problem when the location is unavailable and the Drive cannot be accessed. For this:
- Press Win + X and select ” Device Manager “.
- Expand the ” Disk drives ” item.
- Right-click on the Drive and ” Remove device “.
- Next, click on the top tab ” Action ” and ” Update hardware configuration “.
- Restart windows and check if the error is resolved.
Method 3: Assign a drive letter
If an error appears during connection that the structure is corrupted, unreadable, there is no access to the disk location, and there is no letter in the Explorer, then you need to assign it.
- Press Win + X and select ” Disk Management.”
- Right-click on the external Drive, which gives an error.
- Select from the menu ” Change drive letter or path to wild.”
- In the new window, click on ” Add.”
- Select ” Assign Drive Letter (AZ) “
- Click OK.
Method 4: Formatting the Drive
If you do not need data on a flash drive or other external Drive, then formatting can help fix the problem with the “Disk Structure is Corrupted and Unreadable”. If the Drive is displayed in Explorer, right-click on it and select ” Format “.
