File folders changing to inaccessible UNIX documents
I'm on a MacBook running 10.6.8. I often run files back and forth to my workplace on a Lexar 16 GB stick...now just a few months old (since my last one seemed ot be overheating -- a Kingston prone to this, as it happens).
The other day I noticed a folder (full of files) on my stick seemed to have changed (on a PC) to an 8kb "file" of no type. I was not able to open it.
I figured I would fix it at home, but at home it appears as a UNIX file...and today I am seeing more and more folders changing in this way! I have notivced four more just in the past few minutes, some at the root level, other buried.
I ran Disk First Aid and the PC's own scanner equivalent on the stick, but no serious problems were found; DFA did make a few fixes. But the problem continues.
Should I buy a file retrieval program? Is this stick HOSED? That would be a big shame.
Is this a known issue in Snow Leopard? I have had documents change to UNIX before, but I was able to change them back by adding the proper suffix. But with folders I am stumped -- and this is much more severe as many files are now inaccessible.
-A-
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.7)