Hi ymm424,
welcome to the Apple (user-to-user) Community.
Re: "Need to locate specific files that were backed up to ext. hard drive"
Wondering if you used Time Machine" for the backups to the WD My Passport hd.
Eg: This is how you would: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support
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Re: "Why do I get directed to desktop when I want to see what is in the backups?"
That "Backups.backupdb > subfolder that names your desktop"
may contain folders of those photos and documents that you backed up.
A backups file system may (or may not if older version) look like :
Backups > Latest > MacIntosh HD Data > Users > {Your name / computer] > folders of your files and data
You can not move anything about on the back-up hd:
Yet, you can likely drag copies of anything in particular that you want to retrieve, to your desktop.
(NB: keeping in mind that you do not have much storage space available on your Mac
ie: A Mac generally needs about 50Gb space free in order to operate smoothly).
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Else: Apple support have articles online that may be helpful if you used Time Machine for the back-ups.
How to: Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support
or
Recover files using Time Machine and Spotlight on Mac - Apple Support
All the best :-)
