Somehow my external SSD that I was plugging into my PC got corrupted. So I lost all access to the data on it - some useful stuff too.

Anyway, if you find your disk goes kaput, maybe this will help.

I got back everything I needed from the iffy SSD.  

https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

A bad USB connection can cause corruption.

At least you got the data back.