Files & Folders Are Gibberish?!

I took a USB HD from one machine and plugged it into another. When I tried to view it the files and folders appeared as gibberish. I tried a quick data recovery program I had on hand just to see if the files were still there. The program doesn't return path names or proper files names (ex. instead I get 0000001.zip) but the data appears to be there and uncorrupted. Any ideas what happened or if this can be fixed?

http://s4.postimg.org/8zkxkpdq5/data_corrupted.png

 

what happens when you plug it in the original system? Either the data is encrypted or the drive is corrupt.

 

I think it could be a possible file system corruption..

 

Ditto. Does the problem still exist when the drive is connected to the original computer? If not, check to make sure the USB drivers on the problem computer are up to date . . . also, if you haven't, try another USB port on the problem computer.

I've heard this kind of thing can occur when plugging a USB drive into an older computer, or a computer with outdated USB drivers.

To check if it's a font issue (since the files seem to be intact), copy some of the gibberish text into a word documant and change the font . . . if it becomes readable, then it's a font issue. I doubt that's what the issue is, but it's worth a check.

 

If the data became encrypted, you may have gotten the Ransomware, CryptoLocker.