User level: Level 1 (4 points)I converted a load of Hi8 footage to Mpeg4 and put then onto a USB stick. All played fine on my Mac book until I decided to organise then into folders. Now all the folders have become unix executable files and can not be opened and all the videos not in folders are now unplayable even by VLC. Any ideas how to restore them
Thanks
Posted on Nov 9, 2026 2:24 PM
User level: Level 9 (78,350 points)Nov 10, 2026 1:59 PM in response to BK23-93
Most USB sticks are of very poor quality useful only for passing documents between devices or for use as a bootable installer. Even the better quality USB sticks should not be used as a work area as most tend to be very slow as well. USB sticks should never be used to hold the only copy of a file.
You can try running Disk Utility First Aid on the physical drive as well as the volume. If you used the APFS file system, then run First Aid on the hidden Container as well. See the following Apple article for details since Disk Utility hides the physical drives & containers from view by default:
How to repair a Mac storage device with Disk Utility - Apple Support
Also, even if the First Aid summary says everything is "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll through the report to see if any errors or warnings are shown. If there are any, then run First Aid again until they are gone. If after several scans, the errors/warnings remain, then they cannot be fixed.
Have you tried copying those items to your internal SSD to see if you still have the same issue?
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256391604