Cannot open images on external SSD

[A C]

I have tried as many ideas as I can and am stumped on this issue.

I am using an external SSD with Digikam.  I recently purchased a 
different computer (PC - Win11) and want to continue using Digikam to 
manage images on the SSD with this new computer.  After loading Digikam 
and finding the correct file path - I am able to see the files listed 
but when I try to open the file it says "Storage locations of this image 
is currently not available".

What steps might I have missed to resolve this issue?