Lost raw images

[jaqueline268639970wcm]

Couple things first.

1. I'm new to lightroom classic.

2. My 2020 MacBook Pro is running out of storage.

3. I purchased a brand new sandisk extreme pro 1t SSD to work off of. 

The other night I was working on editing the one and only gallery on my brand new SSD. I got through 10 photos before my computer sounded like it was going to take off. Lol Luckly, it was time for bed. So I closed out. And off I went. 
the next day I went to edit the same gallery, and lightroom told me my catalog was corrupt. So, I went to find my raw files on my SSD and they were gone. Completely gone. 

What did I do wrong? Was it lightroom? Was it my computer, or was it my new SSD?? 

Im thoroughly confused, frustrated, and nervous my photos are gone forever... Please, help.

[AxelMatt]

Where do you search your RAW files? 

A corrupt catalog does not usually affect to the RAW files. The file are not stored in the catalog, there were only references to the files in the catalog.  Try to search in Finder.

[dj_paige]

So, I went to find my raw files on my SSD and they were gone. Completely gone.

Please use the search feature in your operating system to search all disks and all folders for one of these files, by file name.

If you don't find them, please restore recent backups of your photos.