Trying to get files from an external hard drive

Hello, I tried to get some photos/files out of a hard-drive that hasn't been used for a few years. I believe everything originally on it was transferred and then its contents were deleted, but I can not find the copies. After everything was cleared, apparently it was used at one point because there are some newer pdfs/files on it. I tried to restore the previous version, and after skipping some errors it jumped straight to 100% and said it was restored. When I went back in, the only files were those that were previously there.

I would appreciate any advice, the drive is a WD10EADS and my OS is windows 10