Data Recovery Case File · Solid State & Flash · Names Without Places
An Entry That Points Somewhere the System Cannot Reach Is a Broken Reference
Her enquiry reports a specific message and a difference between machines. A memory stick where "the files show up but when I press on them it says location not found" — and on a second computer the files do not appear at all. Being listed and being reachable are separate things: a directory entry holds a name and a pointer, and this one has the first without a working second.
| Media | USB memory stick — file entries listing on one host with content locations unresolvable; entries not listing at all on a second host |
| Reported situation | Memory stick holding photographs and video · files listed when connected to one computer · opening a file reporting that the location cannot be found · files not appearing at all on a second computer · device working as recently as the previous month · content of personal importance held |
| Fault class | Directory entries retained with content references invalid — allocation information lost or unreadable; host differences reflecting caching and tolerance rather than device state |
| Equipment used | Listing without access interpreted as broken references rather than absent content · device addressed through hardware with imposed timeouts rather than the host stack · imaged write-blocked before any scanning · signature carving performed across the whole device independently of directory entries · recovered content validated by opening |
The decode: what the message reports, and why the two machines differ
What a directory entry contains: a name and a pointer. The name is what is displayed; the pointer says where the content begins, and the two are stored together but are separate pieces of information.
What her message therefore reports: the name was read and the pointer did not lead anywhere usable. The system found the entry, followed its reference, and could not reach what it described.
Why that means the content is not necessarily gone: a broken reference is a failure of description. The photographs may sit exactly where they were written while the record of where that is has been damaged.
Why the second computer shows nothing at all: the two are reading the same damage differently. Hosts vary in how much they tolerate before declining to present a directory at all, and one machine listing entries while another does not reflects that rather than a change in the device.
Why the first machine may also be showing a cached view: systems remember what a device contained. Entries can persist in a host's own records after the device stops returning them, which produces exactly this — names visible and nothing behind them.
Why that possibility is worth naming: if the listing is cached, the device is returning less than it appears to. The second computer's view may be the more accurate one, and neither host is wrong.
What is likely to have happened on the device: the region holding allocation information has become unreadable. On flash media that is a block whose cells have drifted beyond correction, and it is a small area with disproportionate consequences.
Why working last month and not now is consistent: retention loss is gradual and its effects are not. A block sits within correction margin until it does not, and the transition is abrupt from the user's side.
What is done about it: the memory is read past the controller and content located by its own recognisable openings, without reference to any directory. Photographs and video are found by pattern rather than by pointer.
What must not happen: nothing written to the stick, and no repair or format prompt accepted on either machine. A device listing names with nothing behind them attracts exactly that offer.
On the bench
Listing without access was interpreted as broken references rather than absent content — a directory entry holding a name and a pointer as separate pieces, so a location-not-found report indicates the name being read and the reference failing to resolve. Host differences reflect varying tolerance before declining to present a directory, and possibly cached entries persisting in a host's own records after the device ceases returning them. Carving ran across the whole device independently of directory entries.
The outcome
Listing without access read as broken references, the device addressed through hardware, and carving performed independently of the directory. Free assessment, one fixed written figure including VAT; where a chip has to be removed, 50% of parts and labour is payable upfront with the balance only on success — otherwise no recovery, no fee. The decode: a name and a pointer are separate things. Your entries kept their names and lost their references — and the two computers differ in how much damage they tolerate before showing nothing at all.
Files that are listed but cannot be opened
Stop writing to the device and refuse any repair or format prompt on either machine, since a device showing names with nothing behind them attracts exactly that offer. Read the message as informative: a directory entry stores a name and a pointer separately, so location not found means the name was read and the reference didn't resolve — which is a broken description rather than absent content. The two computers disagreeing is normal, since hosts vary in how much damage they tolerate, and one may be showing you a cached listing.
Stop writing to it — call Manchester Data Recovery on 0161 871 0788; listing read as broken references, addressed through hardware, carving performed independently of directory entries.
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Our case files are drawn from genuine enquiries received by our laboratory over the past ten years, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery procedure our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.