Some folders replaced with document icon

I have been using an external 2TB NTFS hard drive to store data from my Macbook. Everything has worked fine for the last month, but when I plugged in the drive today, four of the ten folders on the drive were replaced with the document logo (a piece of paper with the upper right corner folded down). When I click what used to be a folder, my Mac gives me "error - 43" and then "The Application cannot be found", even though it is a folder, not an application. These folders used to hold gigabytes of data, but now I can't access them. Does anyone now how to fix this, or why this happened?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Error - 43 often means you've used signs that the NTFS doesn't or won't recognise in naming folders or files. An example is the / sign. It's fine for Mac, but if you're using another file system, it's a no-no.

What's puzzling me though is how things worked fine for the past month, but have suddenly gone wrong. Can you think of anything you might unwittingly have done to cause this? An example might be if you deleted or moved an application used in creating some of the files on the external HD.

Another possibility is that file permissions on your Macbook have become corrupted. Download OnyX Titanium Software appropriate to your OS version (please list the specs in your profile), and run repair permissions and maintenance scripts. Then see what happens with the files on the external HD.

A quick search of the -43 error also throws up a Time Machine issue. Are you using TM to do backups to the external HD? If so, see Time Machine problem (Error -43) - Mac Forums.

Thanks hughvane

Thanks hughvane

I can't think of anything I have done to cause this. I don't think I deleted a file or app that is needed to store files. I don't use the drive for time machine backups. None of my files have '/' in them or other figures that other systems don't recognize. I'm really a at loss as to how this happened, and I can't find anyone else with this issue.
II
I downloaded Onyx for Snow Leopard (I'm using 10.6.3) but I can't get it to scan the external NTFS drive, only the start up disc in my Macbook. Anyone know how to do this?

The folders that were affected now say "Alias" in the column that should say "folder"

Thanks a lot for your help, I really don't want to lose all of my files.

To make an Alias the shortcut is Command L and you could have done that inadvertently.
The alias has a little black arrow see pic and will load the file it is linked to. Did you move some files or rename a folder that could have started the problem for you.


Click for full size

I'm curious as to why you would store valuable files on a drive formatted in a method that is not compatible with OS X in the first place. The only drivers I know of that support writing to NTFS are experimental. Perhaps now we know why.