Fixed: Can’t Read from Source File or Disk Error – 10 Ways

User Case: Encounter "Can’t Read from Source File or Disk" While Copying

"I have a CD that contains my important works. They are stored in zip format on another old laptop which is Windows 7. Just yesterday, I copied this zip archive to a newly purchased external hard drive and through this external drive to a desktop computer with Windows 10 installed. The idea was good, but during the actual copying process, I received an error message: Can’t Read from Source File or Disk. I can't determine which step is the problem, can anyone provide reliable advice?"

In your work and life, you often copy, delete or move files, and these operations are usually fine. But sometimes, when you try to transfer files to another disk, USB drive, external hard drive, SD card or DVD, you will see the "Can’t read from source file or disk" error in Windows 10 as described in the case above.

If you don't know much about computer operation, then this can be a headache enough. But don't worry, you just need to be patient and read this article to get the fix, but before that, you need to understand the cause of the error.

The Cause of "Can’t Read from Source File or Disk" Error

If you are struggling with the "Can’t read from source file or disk" error when copying, please understand these common causes first, which will help you to fix them next.

• USB port or connection cable is faulty.
• The file you want to copy is too large.
• The file you want to copy, delete or move is corrupted.
• File system error on the source disk.
• Bad tracks exist on the source external drive.
• USB drive power failure.
• Disk format incompatibility.
• Local sectors do not have enough storage space.
• Virus or malware attacks.

"Can’t Read from Source File or Disk" Error Fixes

How to fix the "Can’t read from source file or disk" error? Please refer to the following 10 fixes and follow the steps provided to try to fix it.

Method 1. Reboot the computer and reconnect the USB drive

When you encounter the error "Can’t read from source file or disk" during file transfer, the first thing you should try is to restart your computer, which may help you fix the error. In addition, in some cases when there is a connection problem with the USB drive, it can also cause the above error, so please try to reconnect it.

1. Tap the arrow button in the notification area on the right side of the taskbar, tap the USB drive and eject it.

2. Tap the Start button again and tap the Power button in the expanded menu and select Restart.
3. During a computer reboot, unplug the USB drive and insert it into another port.
4. Wait for the computer reboot to complete, then try to copy the file to see if the above error has been fixed, if not please go to the next method.

Method 2. Check the Power Connection Cable of the External Hard Disk

If you are experiencing an "Can’t read from source file or disk" error when transferring files to the external hard drive, then you should consider whether the external hard drive has a faulty connection cable or power supply. To do this, you need to check the external hard drive's power connection cable.

You can use another connection cable instead, or connect that external drive to another computer and see if the above error persists.

If it still exists, it means that the power connection cable is faulty, please replace it promptly.

Method 3. Check and Rename the File

If the file name is not recognized by Windows or is not compatible with Windows, then your device will not be able to find the specific file name via File Explorer and will display the error message "Can’t read from source file or disk". In this case, the easiest solution is to rename the file.

1. Use Windows + E to open File Explorer and locate the file with the error.
2. Right-click on it and select Rename in the expanded menu.
3. Modify the name and format of the file according to the Windows file name rules, and then click on any blank area to complete the changes.

Method 4. Open The File in Another App or on Your Computer

You can try to open the file using another application or computer. If this computer has a completely different operating system than the current one (e.g. you are currently using Windows and another computer can choose Mac), then it will help to eliminate the conflict between the file and the computer.

1. Use Windows +E to open File Explorer and find the file with the error.
2. Right-click it, select Open with in the expanded menu, and then select another application to open this file.
3. If you fail to fix the above error, please use another computer (preferably with a different operating system) to open this file.

Method 5. Check and Repair the Bad Track

When there are bad tracks on your computer's hard drive, external hard drive or USB drive, it can lead to a "Can’t read from source file or disk" error. To do this, you need to check and repair these bad tracks. And below you will find two different methods, one of which you can choose depending on your situation.

#1. Check and Repair Disks via CHKDSK ⚙️

1. Use Windows + S to open the search box, type cmd, and select Run as administrator.
2. In the Command Prompt character window, type chkdsk C: /f and press Enter to execute the command. Please replace C with the drive letter of the local disk where the system is installed.

3. Press the Y button again to confirm the check at the next system reboot and restart your computer.

#2. Check and Repair Disks with File Explorer 🖥️

1. Use Windows + E to open Windows File Explorer and select the disk you want to check and repair.
2. Right-click on the disk you selected and select Properties in the expanded menu.
3. Switch to the Tools tab at the top of the Properties window, and in the Error checking section, click the Check button.

4. Tap the Scan drive option and wait for the scan to complete.
5. When you find a disk drive error, please tap the Close button first, and then tap the Repair Disk Drive option.

Method 6. Scan and Remove Viruses or Malware

When there are viruses or malware on your computer, it may also lead to the "Can’t read from source file or disk" error. Therefore, you need to scan and remove these viruses or malware with a third-party anti-virus software or Windows Defender, which is recommended here, and here are the detailed steps.

1. Use Windows + S to open the search box and type in Windows Security.
2. In the Windows Security window, click Virus & threat protection.

3. In the Current threats section, click Scan options. then select Full scan and click the Scan now button.

4. Wait for the completion of the scan, if there are viruses or malware please remove in time.

Method 7. Change File Permissions

If Windows does not grant you ownership of a file, you will not be able to open it even if you receive it successfully and you will receive the error that Windows 10 "Can't read from source file or disk". To do this, you need to change the file permissions to fix the above error.

1. Use Windows + E to open File Explorer and find the file with the error.
2. Right-click it and select Properties in the expanded menu.
3. Switch to the Security tab at the top of the Properties window and tap the Edit button.
4. Click the Add button in the new window to open the Select Users or Groups window.
5. Enter your computer name in the blank box at the bottom, then click Check Names, and then click the OK button.

6. Select the computer name you entered before and check the Allow Full control checkbox below and tap the OK button.

Method 8. Convert the File System to NTFS

If the file you want to copy is too large, it will also cause an "Can’t read from source file or disk" error. Therefore, you need to convert the FAT32 file format to NTFS file format. This is because the former only supports the transfer of individual files of 4GB or less, while the latter can support the transfer of individual files of more than 4GB.

😬 Tip: If you want to view the file system, you can right-click the local disk, then select Properties and view the file system of the disk in the General tab.

1. Use Windows + R to open the Execute window, type cmd and press Enter.
2. Type convert n: /fs:ntfs and press Enter. Replace n with the local disk number of the file system you want to convert.

Method 9. Format the Disk

If none of the above methods helps you fix the "Can’t read from source file or disk" error, you can also choose to format the disk. Here you can choose one of the 3 different ways to format the disk, depending on your situation. To prevent any data loss, it is recommended to make a backup of the disk before formatting.

#1. Formatting A Disk in File Explorer 🤖

1. Use Windows + E to open File Explorer and select the local disk you want to format.
2. Right-click it and select Format in the expanded menu.
3. Select the File system you want, and uncheck the Quick format checkbox, then click the Start button.

Note 📝: Disks with the system installed cannot be formatted, for example the local disk (C:). Quick format is faster, but it only deletes the file system logs from the disk and skips error checking, which does not completely solve disk problems, so a full format is more recommended.

#2. Formatting Disks in Disk Management 🗑️

1. Right-click on the Start button and select Disk Management from the expanded menu.
2. Right-click on the partition you want to format and select Format in the expanded menu.
3. Select the File system you want and uncheck the Perform a quick format checkbox, then click the OK button.

#3. Formatting the Disk via CMD Tool 🧰

1. Use Windows + S to open the search box, type cmd and select Run as administrator.
2. If you want to format the disk as an NTFS file system, enter format x: /fs:ntfs and press Enter. If you want to format the disk as a FAT32 file system, type format x: /fs:fat32 and press Enter. Note that replace x with the number of the local disk you want to format.
3. Please note the data loss warning, you will need to enter y for confirmation.

Note 📝: The default is full format, if you just want to format quickly, add /q, when the whole command is format x: /q /fs:fat32.

How to Synchronize Files More Efficiently

After fixing the "Can’t read from source file or disk" error by the above 9 methods, you can transfer the files you need normally. If you need to change files frequently, it will be troublesome to copy and paste files manually. So we recommend the free and professional third-party synchronization software AOMEI Backupper Standard for file synchronization.

With a scheduled synchronization, you only need to select the source file once, and then all the changed files will be automatically synchronized to the corresponding location to avoid the trouble of manually copying and pasting every change.

AOMEI Backupper Standard allows you to sync your files to an external hard drive, USB drive or cloud storage. If you have a work team and want to share a file to other team members, you can choose to sync the file to a network location, using the shared folder as the destination location. The next section will explain how to synchronize files between your computer and an external drive, using Windows 10 as an example.

1. Run AOMEI Backupper Standard, tap the Sync tab on the left, and select Basic Sync in the right panel.

2. Tap the Add Folder button and select the folder you want to synchronize. In addition, you can tap the pencil icon in the upper left corner to modify the name of this task to distinguish it from other tasks.

😬Tips: After adding a folder, you can tap the funnel icon next to it to open the filtering settings to select File Inclusion Mask, File Exclusion Mask, and Folder Exclusion Mask. Please note that this feature requires an upgrade to the Pro version.
🧱 File Inclusion Mask: specifies the files that you need to sync. Wildcards are supported and separate multiple masks with semi-colon(*.doc;*.xls;*.ppt ).
🧱 File Exclusion Mask: specifies the files that you need to exclude. Wildcards are supported and separate multiple masks with semi-colon(*.temp;*.tmp;*.bak;*~*)
🧱 Folder Exclusion Mask: specifies the folders that you need to exclude. Wildcards are supported and separate multiple masks with a semi-colon(*temp;temp*).

3. Next, tap the Schedule Sync button in the lower left corner to set up a schedule sync. You can set daily, weekly, or monthly automatic file sync.

😬 Tip: After upgrading to the Pro version, you can also choose to automatically sync on Event triggers and USB plug in.

4. Set the sync destination as an external hard drive or USB drive and tap the Start Sync button.

In addition to Basic Sync, AOMEI Backupper has other features that may be of interest to you.

• You can use the cloud backup feature to backup important files or folders to AOMEI Cloud.
• You can also use the system backup feature to create system backup images on other disks for quick restoration in case of a system crash using the system backup image archive.
• When upgrading to AOMEI Backupper Professional, you can also make the file sync process easier and further save your time with the bidirectional synchronization feature.
• After upgrading to AOMEI Backupper Professional, you can also use the system cloning feature to copy or transfer your system to SSD or other disks and ensure a secure boot.

Summary

The 9 methods provided in this article can help you fix the "Can't read from source file or disk" error, so that files can be transferred normally. However, if you want to transfer files more efficiently, we recommend using AOMEI Backupper Standard's File Sync feature, which allows you to easily synchronize files that have been changed to the appropriate location by simply setting up a scheduled sync, further saving time in file transfer.

AOMEI Backupper Standard provides you with a free and professional file synchronization service for multiple Windows versions, allowing you to synchronize folders to any location in just a few simple steps. In addition, the software has features such as real-time sync and mirror sync, which can meet all your needs.