Photorec ran as you said it would, but there’s nothing more there than the Sandisk icon to import.
At this point of the game, i don’t want to try recuperating any data (did try Recuva) but simply erase the disk (something i tried doing in many ways) and use it to backup data.
No internet all afternoon… regular maintenance around the property… and to top it off… a 1Tb Sandisk, when plugged in, blocks hardwired mouse and keyboard from performing. Had looked up what “dd” meant and how to do it. But with a “frozen” mouse and keyboard, just couldn’t.
Sending the disk to the computer guy. If he can fix it, it’s his!
Just bought a 256GB SansDisk USB to use for my home camera system storage data. Sure enough it had all the SansDisk folders you have on yours, I just deleted everything and reformatted to Fat 32, and it is working fine. The SansDisk software, if installled will encrypt the USB.