sytem hangs on opening Files (Nautilus?)

[Henry New Dell Laptop]

I clicked on the icon for my external HDD, the Files app started, showed 'Searching for files...' and immediately the system hung.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.04
Package: gnome (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.8.0-31.31-generic 6.8.1
Uname: Linux 6.8.0-31-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.28.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sun May 5 15:47:41 2024
InstallationDate: Installed on 2024-04-26 (9 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS "Noble Numbat" - Release amd64 (20240424)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
SourcePackage: meta-gnome3
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)