Files turn into shortcuts in Seagate external drive.

[Benedykta]

I had bought a Seagate external drive with a capacity of 320 GB which I was using on my MAC OS. I had stored movies, music and video files in it of around 200 GB. It was working perfectly on my MAC pc. Now, I have started using my Toshiba laptop and want to transfer the files from the external drive to my laptop. When I insert the external drive into my laptop, all I see is shortcut icons of my movie, audio n video files. But when I check in the Properties field of the external drive, its showing 100 GB free space. This means all my files are still present in the drive. Can someone please find me a way to access my files or get their backup?

[samar69]

There is a possibility that your laptop may be infected of the Autorun virus. So you need to follow these steps to get a solution:
1. Download the file "AutorunExterminator" from the internet.
2. Click on the Start Menu and type “cmd” in the Search box and press Enter.
3. When your command prompt opens, type the following command: “attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:\*.*” (where g is the name of your external drive). Then press Enter.
4. Now check your files in the external drive.
5. After that you need to download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.
6. Once you download it, install it and perform a Full Scan.
7. Now your laptop will be free of any virus or malware and you can access your files from the external drive.

[pddaugusto]

If the above method does not work, try to follow this method:
The folder named, "System Volume Information" contains all your restore points. There must be a possibility that it must be set on hidden mode by Default. If it is in hidden mode, it will not give the user the permission to access the files. So, in order to access the files you need to remove your files from the hidden mode. For that type the command “attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:\*.*”in cmd prompt. And then remove yor files from hidden mode. Now, you can access your files in the external drive.

[Yitzchak909]

I tried both of the above methods but still I didn’t find any solution to the problem. So, I suggest you to follow this method:
When you insert the external drive into your laptop, open it with altap salamander. When you open it, you will find all your hidden files. Select all the hidden files at once and right click on them. You will find an option named, “Change Attribute”. Click on it and you will see a hidden checkbox which is checked already. Uncheck it and click on Ok. Now, you will get all your files back. Also delete all the 1kb files and scan your drive with an antivirus or antispyware. Now, your external drive is free of virus and can show your files as they were when you put them there.