Files in Greek shown in terminal but not in Finder

[JohnFL1983]

I have a macbook air with MacOS El capitan installed. After a reinstallation I have a problem.

All my files and folders are in my external drive and most of them are written in Greek. In the terminal I can see all of them but in Finder nothing. I took my friends PC and all the files are there. If I rename any folder or file from Greek to English, I can see it in Finder and use the file.

I also tried a new installation and installed Yosemite instead of El capitan and the same thing happens.

Is there anything I can do to fix it because it's not possible to rename all my files.

 

[xraydoc]

What format is the external drive in?

 

[DeltaMac]

Not sure if I understand completely.
Do the files appear as placeholders, and the greek language file names are blank/missing?
Or, if you have 50 files, and 10 are named with non-greek labels, you can ONLY see those 10 files, and the 40 with greek names are not visible to you, even if the files are in list view?
Or, the files appear, but the greek labels (file names) are random garbage characters?

 

[JohnDS]

There may be illegal characters in the file name.

Any files starting with a period will be invisible to a Mac.

Also, colons are not permitted in file names.

 

[DeltaMac]

It's all greek to me! (sorry, couldn't resist)
I bet the system language needs to either have greek added, or change from English, to English (extended).
It should be in System Preferences/Keyboard/Input sources (I think)

 

[JohnFL1983]

xraydoc The external drive is fat32 also tried formatting in HFS+
DeltaMac Exaclty what you wrote.. I can only see the non-greek labeled files.. all the others are shown only in Terminal not in Finder.
JohnDS There aren't any illegal characthers, either the period in front of any file or folder.
All the files were shown on my mac before reinstalling the OS and I haven't renamed any of them.

 

[DeltaMac]

Still not clear to me.
Actually, I asked about a variety of different results, and really need to know WHICH you see (in list view, not icon view)
-No files, not even placeholders.
-Files, but the file names are blank
-Files, but the file names are garbage (random) characters.


How did you reinstall your OS?
Did you change to a different OS version, revert to an older version, or upgrade to a newer macOS?
Was it a "simple" reinstall, that is, just boot to an installer, and choose to reinstall the system in-place; or more involved, where you backed up everything, then erased your boot drive, installed macOS, then restored all your other files and apps?

 

[JohnFL1983]

I downloaded from apple store and then installed it with an external DVD.
I revert to an older version (installed El capitan instead of Sierra) because of a problem with a usb stick for internet.
I can only see the non-greek files or folders. All the others are not shown at all.

 

[chown33]

Some things to try.

1. Can you create files on the Mac directly that have Greek letters in them?
If so, do their names display correctly in Finder?

2. I wonder if there may be a font problem.
Reboot in Safe mode, which deletes font caches, and see if it makes a difference.
If the files appear, reboot in normal mode and see if the stay visible.

3. What's the primary language of your user account? English or Greek?
Create another account, and give it the opposite primary language.
Login to that account. Do the files appear?