recovered backup files can't be opened

[fineday]

Hi, my hard drive to back up files using time machine was dropped and broken. I sent it to a professional to recover all the data and he moved them to a new external hard drive. The problem is I can't open all of the files. I can see all the folders and files but some of them are marked exec or when I open them, it says they could not be opened because they are empty. I'm just wondering if anyone knows how to open the files. Are they damaged and can't be recovered anymore? Your help is very much appreciated. Thank you.