Folder turned into a file
PLEASE TELL ME MY DATA IS NOT LOST!!! you guys are always so awesome when it comes to things like this.so i am really hoping one of you reads this and knows the solution.
#FOLDER TURNED INTO A FILE PROFESSIONAL#
i thought i would try you guys before i took it in to a professional data recovery place and ended up paying $500. I tried to run chkdsk for windows and it told me that some items were fixed, but it didn't recover the data. also, some of the folders that i was able to open contained folders with what looked like Chinese writing and symbols (just crazy undecipherable text) as the names of these folders.
![folder turned into a file folder turned into a file](https://www.assistmyteam.com/images/products/FPW/foldertopdf_advanced_Explorer.png)
I recovered my folders by setting their attributes unhidden. The exe files of each folder name are created and folder are set hidden. then when i went to go into my external hard drive folders once my computer started some of them had an blank looking icon instead of the folder icon (shown in picture 1 below).and windows was not able to open the file as it had no extension. The reason is unknow to me but the fact is that folder are not actually converted into file. i was not cholosing yes when it asked me to check y or n.it was just doing it on its own. Now granted, this is not exactly what it said, but something to this effect. I restarted my computer a couple days ago and it went into this diagnostic screen where it recommended that i do some sort of file check on my external hard drive (western digital my book 500gb 7200 RPM USB 2.0).so I did and i watched as it scrolled through all of the folders and it would say something like this as it scrolled down:
![folder turned into a file folder turned into a file](https://www.alphr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Screenshot-260-1.png)
Hello, i am hoping someone can help me because i may have lost 200+ GB's of music, pictures, and personal files.