Missing Files after Win8.1Pro Install

Following some suspected software errors (with Win7) I decided to upgrade from Win 7 to Win 8.1Pro . My PC is relatively new, a Haswell processor, 16G RAM, nVidia 660, etc
The install was smooth without flagged errors. A bunch of "popular" software was installed, such as Office 2013, Abby Finereader, Adobe Acrobat, all latest versions.
I have 4 HDDs, one of which is a SSD that I again called c:\ followed by D:, E:, F:, with D,E, and F being mechanical HDDs.
Within 2 days I realised that I was seeing unexplained anomalies. First, using File Explorer, when I right clicked on a SSD or HDD (eg C and then clicked Properties, no usage (properties) were displayed. And then I saw that any search on any SSD and HDD for any file (or string) began the progress bar moving very slowly towards the end, but the progress bar never got to the end and no match was ever found for my search.
Then the third and worst problem became obvious. I am not sure of the jargon but here goes. Each C,D,E and F have a list of folders, AND ALSO each have a few, say 50 files, attached directly to the root, eg C:, D:, E:, and F:. (Not good practice, I am told). Here's the rub, all of these directly attached files are no longer there. The folders and their contents are, but not the root-attached files! I generally have good backups but these missing files were put under root till I decided on their importance.

Using cmd.exe the files are still not visible.

I used to be a well informed PC and UNIX user, but since retirement my skills are decreasing.

Does the above ring any bells, any ideas, please?

Regards
Doug

If you look in Disk Management does it say that you have GPT volumes? I don't know what happens when you update Windows 7 to Windows 8.x. But if it shows in Disk Management as GPT then the install converted your volumes to GPT(as opposed to MBR type.)

If it saved and restored folders I don't know why it wouldn't do the same with files directly under root.

Perhaps someone who does a lot of upgrades can tell us.

It has never been a good idea to upgrade Windows from one version to another since Windows has no idea of what kind of third party softwares you installed in the previous version. File Explorer is a Windows core file and behind the scence it does a lot of things in the background and might behave strangely due to the incompatibility of the third party softwares shell extensions.

I suggest that you follow this post to see if it can remedy the problem:
http://www.eightforums.com/performance-maintenance/19373-right-click-menu-lag-my-pc.html#post187343

Hope this helps !!!

I think that I may have confused things. My use of the word "upgrade" was sloppy. I installed Windows 8 as a new installation, so that all that was on C:\ was removed. ie a totally new installation. In fact the "upgrade" option over an earlier version of Windows is not possible without losing all the installed apps. I installed from a retail version of 8.1 and on one of the earliest screens I chose to "Keep nothing".

All applications were reinstalled from scratch, on C:\ (SSD, approx. 500GB)

See Upgrade to Windows 8.1 from Windows 7 - Windows Help

Before I installed Windows 8.1Pro I unplugged the D,E and F drives. Then after installation D: ,E: and F: were connected.

For the first time I have looked at the volumes. C:\ (SSD) is GPT, D:, (4TB), is GPT, E:, (2TB) is MBR, and F:, (3TB) drive is GPT.

Strangely, I believe, before 8.1 C:\ (SSD) was MBR, but the remaining HDD are unchanged.

I thank Topguncp and Milesahead for the kind replies

Strangely, I believe, before 8.1 C:\ (SSD) was MBR, but the remaining HDD are unchanged.

Click to expand...

When installing Windows, you have the choice of which style you want to install: MBR or UEFI by selecting the appropriate boot option. From the boot menu, there are 2 options as shown in the screen shot as an example. Apparently you selected option 2 then Windows Installation will initialize the C: drive as GPT disk.:



Even with the fresh install, I still suggest to go thru with what I posted above to make sure you don't have any incompatible shell extensions.

In addition, open the Admin Command Prompt (Win+X->Command Prompt (Admin))and run 2 commands below:

1. dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
2. sfc /scannow

Many thanks, I will try that.

Thank you for being patient with me. I am old, ailing and in awful unrelenting pain despite using prescription narcotics in large doses.. I will do as you suggest, but my health dictates what days I am capable. Sometimes I am too ill to respond for a few days.

Regards
Doug