hidden files of jpegs - my first post in a very long time!!!

Hello all.....!!!!
Wow, I have not required help in a VERY LONG time.
But, well now I do.....
About 6 weeks ago I re-installed W7 on my SSD
While doing this I unplugged my two HDDs just to be safe.
Until today I had no reason to look at the HDDs
These HDDs serve a single purpose.
Storage & backup of family photos & videos.
I use Dropbox for the small stuff off drive C
When I went to do an overdue backup of last month's images & videos I could not see the following.
Not a single folder of images (1o years worth) on the "storage" drive , where Windows puts a system backup FYI.
On the other (backup) drive I could see everything fine except all of 2012 and most of 2011.
After a brief panic I changed setting to see hidden folders & files.
Now I see what I was not seeing but faded out a bit.
If I copy & paste anything to the desktop it works but is also a faded icon.
Is this some type of permissions issue or something?
I do have another external backup that is fine when I plus it in but I have not backed up to that yet this year (I bad).
Thoughts on oh to bring all of these files back into the real world?
THANKS !

fmg

THANKS,

These things are usually not too complicated but my ability to remember all of it is.
THANKS !
everything is back & now being backed up yet again!
cheers!

fmg