diff --git a/data/placeholder.txt b/data/placeholder.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 8d1d542395..0000000000
--- a/data/placeholder.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-nothing to see here
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/duke/Storage.java b/src/main/java/duke/Storage.java
index 2d1fc10f30..1be81121de 100644
--- a/src/main/java/duke/Storage.java
+++ b/src/main/java/duke/Storage.java
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ public class Storage {
     public Storage(String fileLocation) throws DukeException {
         try {
             dukeFile = new File(fileLocation);
-            dukeFile.createNewFile();
+            if (dukeFile.getParentFile().mkdir()) {
+                dukeFile.createNewFile();
+            }
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new StorageException(e.getMessage());
         }