MacBook Air won't read external hard drive

I recently purchased a MacBook Air with Apple M1 chip running macOS Big Sur.

I want to have access to files and photos on my WD Elements external hard drive, saved from my previous computer, which was running Windows 10.

The MacBook will recognize the drive, and display it on my desktop, but when opened, there are no files visible. I tried it on my wife's MacBook, which is 3 or 4 years old, and everything worked as it should there, so it's not an issue with the hard drive, it's my Mac Book.

What can I do to get access to my files on my Mac?