Okay.  So I have an older HP Pavilion dv6, and I got a newer HP for Christmas.  I have all of my important documents (word documents are the most important, but also pictures) still on my Pavilion, but I also have them backed on a WD My Passport Ultra external hard drive.

Back when I first got the Pavilion (this was a while ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy) a lot of my files and folders ended up looking weird.  They opened just fine, but the icons were translucent like when you select or CUT them.  A GOOD portion of my files/folders had the strange icons.  I can't really remember if it was just the files/folders transferred from my even older Toshiba or my previous external drive, or if it was RANDOM, or what.  But the files opened fine, so it was more of an annoyance than a problem.

So when I got my WD My Passport, I copied all my important files from HP Pavilion, including the weird looking ones.  No problem, they showed up weird on the WD (still translucent, looking "selected") but they opened just fine.

Now, when I plug my WD into my NEW HP, all of those "selected" looking files are invisible, including my entire "Documents" folder.  They are definitely on the drive.  If I search for a particular document title, it shows up in the search results and opens just fine, but I can't just browse around and find it.

Now I was able to fix the "invisible" folder situation easily by creating a new folder and just transferring all the files from the weird folder to the new normal one.  However, with individual files that are weird-looking, I'm just not sure what to do.  They don't even show up when I search them by title.

For example in one subfolder of My Documents on the WD drive, there are 11 documents visible when viewed from my old HP Pavilion, 4 of which are weird looking.  When viewed from my new laptop, those 4 weird files don't show up, leaving only the 7 normal looking files. 

The only way I can even conceive to fix this is to open the word documents on my Pavilion and copy their contents into a new document.  That sounds like a pain in the *censored*.  Even worse would be to take all of my pictures, open them in Paint and resave them.  Please tell me there's something else I can do.This is an attempt to give you some suggestions.
First of all, you should MAKE it clear that you are using Windows 7 and not Windows XP. I think your computer was made around 2010, which means it would've had Windows 7 on it and not Windows XP.
In any case, we you TRANSFER files from one computer to another you lose some of the associations or attributes associated with the files. This occurs when you're using the fat 32 structure, and which is often used in backup methods.
It is not clear what you mean by translucent. The icons associated with files are either found in the file itself or somewhere else in a icon library. The icon library is not transferred from one computer to another. Most likely some of the files you have had unusual icons that were found somewhere else and not part of the file itself.
Bear in mind I'm trying to give you a quick answer. Without some more details and explanations it's hard for me to guess what you mean by an invisible file. Sometimes files are hidden for a specific reason. If that is the case, you can override that particular behavior by setting up your new computer so that it shows all files even files that are supposed to be hidden.
Please provide some more detail about what you mean by a file being invisible.
 of allMy HP Pavilion originally had Windows 7, but now both laptops are operating on Windows 10.  And by "invisible" I mean "unable to be seen with the eye".  The files exist on the WD hard drive, they take up space, but they can only be viewed when the drive is plugged into my older Pavilion.  They are not viewable from my new laptop.Doesn't make sense if it's Win7 or 10 that shouldn't make a difference...
Find them on the older PC and write down the diretories/folders they are in...
Then on the new PC find those folders...Some more info needed about:
WD My Passport Ultra external hard drive.
How did you use it? It is often used to save and restore to the same computer. Did you use it to transfer files?

Perhaps you are not used to how it works. I do not mean to question lour intellect, but if you are new to using that device,  it  can confuse  even experienced users. Have you used it before to transfer files from one PC to another? If so, ignore what I said.

EDIT: I found this:
 http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705099.pdf
I will look it over r and see if there is some trick to use it for transfer.

They sound like Hidden files. The new system is set to hide hidden files. Your previous system is not.

On the Windows 10 system in File Explorer, go to the "View" tab on the ribbon, and check off "Hidden Items".

If there is no reason for them to be hidden you can right-click the affected files and select properties and then adjust the file attributes.Did you use the software that came with the WD backup device? It is intended for doing backup and restore on one computer. Using it to transfer files to another PC requires  some attention to detail. You would not transfer the files using Windows explorer, but instead use the WD software to extract the files off of om the image.