external ssd no longer recognized by Apple

Are there any issues with Lightroom disabling an external hard drive so that Apple can no longer read it?  If so, is there a fix?

I have a 6 mo old Sandisk 1TB Extreme Portable SSD. I use LR Classic on an 2 yr old Macbook Air M2 chip on Sonoma 14.5.

A few days ago all was fine - I had used maybe 20% of the capacity. Now when I attach the SSD, Apple tells me it's not readable. When I initialize it, the device name has changed back to the default SanDisk name, and the drive's 1T capacity is completely full but I can't see any folders or files. First Aid didn't pick up anything unusual.

I've tried different plugs and ports, shut down/restarted the laptop, and nothing has helped.  Not sure if the problem is Adobe, SanDisk or Apple in nature. Any help appreciated. Thanks.