Error reading file partition

[VicNicSor]

George's robot has been failing to work properly recently since he's old. George's showing him some family photos to see if the robot recognizes them. But he doesn't, his speech is out of order too. He says:
-- I'm sorry, George. I can't... Error reading file partition.
Humans, TV series

Explain please the meaning of "partition", and, what modifies what here. Thank you.

 

[Oddmania]

This is "computer talk". An error occured while reading the file partition. I do know what a disk partition is, but I don't know what a file partition consists of. This is beyond my knowledge of computer stuff.

 

[VicNicSor]

This is "computer talk". An error has occured while reading the file partition. I do know what a disk partition is, but I don't know what a file partition consists of. This is beyond my knowledge of computer stuff.

I.e., "file partition" is the object of the verb "reading", and "error of"is implied, right?

 

[Myridon]

There has been an error reading the file partition.
I suppose you could insert "while."
An error has occurred while reading the file partition.

 

[Juhasz]

The writers probably didn't expect that most viewers would understand or even wonder very much about the exact meaning of this phrase. As Oddmania says, it's just supposed to sound like something a computer would say.

Like Oddmania, I have never heard of a file partition. Generally, computer's hard disks are "partitioned," that is, programmatically separated into discrete zones, so that certain files could be stored and accessed (or not accessed) in particular locations.

Error messages are often not completely grammatical (like newspaper headlines). As Myridon says, the robot means "I encountered an error while reading this file partition."

 

[VicNicSor]

Thanks for your replies

 

[dojibear]

Error reading file partition.

This is a standard error message, that may be seen on a home computer. It is written "to look just like" what would appear on a home computer screen.

It is a severe error, since it means the computer can't use the disk at all.

 

[VicNicSor]

This is a standard error message, that may be seen on a home computer. It is written "to look just like" what would appear on a home computer screen.

It is a severe error, since it means the computer can't use the disk at all.

But you'd expect to see "disk" here, not a "file"...

 

[Myridon]

But you'd expect to see "disk" here, not a "file"...

The disk, memory space, or whatever is partitioned into several segments/partitions. One of those partitions is designated for storing files. It is the file partition.
The error is in accessing the partition. It may not even be getting to the point where accessing files is possible - like changing to a drive that isn't there.

 

[Egmont]

This is a standard error message, that may be seen on a home computer...

But you'd expect to see "disk" here, not a "file"...

The second quote is correct. This is not a standard message. It is written to resemble a standard message. A Web search for this exact phrase turns up 17 hits. One of them is this page. The other 16 are all various versions of the TV show. (A Web search for a real home computer error message returns thousands, often tens of thousands, of hits. Most of them are from people who wonder what the message means or what they should do about it. Even entering the message with errors will turn up many hits from people who made the same errors themselves.)

 

[dojibear]

But you'd expect to see "disk" here,

You're right. I didn't notice the difference when I posted.

I assume the person who wrote the script is a "complete idiot" (noun phrase, countable) when it comes to computers.

 

[VicNicSor]

Thank you, everyone !