wd my passport unlock but directory does not appear

Can I just restore it what it came with from the factory? I’m a solo private practice physician and need to downgrade the OS on my Pro to Catalina because much of my essential third-party software will not work on Big Sur. I’m getting a new external hard drive today to copy the data on my Pro. However, this is the worst I ever experienced. Each iteration and each OS upgrade seems to come with it’s own problem. I’ve been a loyal Apple customer since 1984. I want a clean internal hard drive on my Pro and to keep my Air separate with it’s own data. Now both my Pro and Air have data from each other.

I tried to erase several other external hard drives to do the bask-up and they would either not mount or not be recognized. However, my Pro no longer recognized my external hard drive and it would not mount.

I was instructed to backup my Pro before I erase the internal hard drive. I read online that I needed to upgrade to Big Sur to transfer data from my Pro to my Air. I slowly began to rebuild access to the websites. I deleted LassPass and installed Dashlane. In addition about 2 months ago I realized that for some unknown reason (maybe I was hacked separately?) all the passwords in my password manager, LassPass, had changed without my permission. It deleted multiple important data files. About 4 months ago I used Clean My Mac on the MacBook Pro. Multiple serious problems with the two laptops I use for my medical practice.

Wd my passport unlock but directory does not appear