Video files corrupted or disappeared

I have a large amount of video files on an external ssd (Crucial P3 2 TB SSD with Sabrent USB C enclosure). It has worked with no issues for months. Now, this drive has been formatted in exFAT, but I must stress that it hasn't been exposed to any PCs with any malware or issues; it hasn't been exposed to any PC in months, in fact. The other night I was browsing the files when I noticed that the folder was having issues when I would "group by name / date added / etc." I shrugged it off because it began to work properly moments later. I left the drive plugged in overnight and the next night when I opened the folder, over 25 of the files have gone missing. In their place are white page looking files with names like "lion.created, lion.temp, cab.created, directorystorefile, and index.bigdates". There is one that is an exec named "indexstate". I'm at a loss as to how this happened and where the files went. It seems like finder corrupted them when trying to sort them. I'm running a data recovery on the drive now. Any ideas as to how to get those files back or what happened? Thank you.