Volume Full, No files Shown

I had same issue with my so called ‘legacy’ (older) external drives. Something wrong with the drives? Nah. Checked all cables and several drives. No way was this a coincidence. I had purchased a new external drive last month and realized there was a conflict in drivers or software. Plugged them  into older laptop that did not have the newer external drive installed. Voila. All of the “empty” folders - yes capacity was used - were now intact. People are so quick to say your hardware or software is corrupted. Try them on another computer. That may not be your issue, but it is worth a try. Be sure to swap cables if that doesn’t do it. Good luck.