transferring to a new hard drive problems

Hello, I'm not sure if this is the right place but I'm hoping to get some help/insight.

I recently purchased a new (cheap) external hard drive to replace my older one. As I was transferring files (mostly pictures) , I noticed a few things.

1 - when I put the folder on thumbnail view, the pictures don't show up as thumbnails, just as what looks like a sheet of paper with a blue square and triangle on it. I've checked the settings and it is set to display the thumbnails.

2 - when I went to check the other folders, they were coming up empty. If I tried to bulk transfer (lets say) 20 folders, all of them came up empty. The folders were there and named correctly, just empty.

3 - relatedly - I went in and transferred whatever was in each folder to the appropriate place. Not matter how I disconnected the drive, when I reconnected it and checked those folders, the files were missing. Also, I noticed that sometimes the thumbnail (when it would come up) would show a distorted photo. Sometimes blacked out, sometimes with lines all over it.

I've checked all of the settings and drivers google told me to but I think there's misunderstanding between me and the machine, because really, how do you google something like this?

Either way- did I get a lemon hard drive? Is there a way to fix this?

\*I'm working on a Windows 11 laptop, if it helps.