Pictures & Music Gone.. (Page 2): I have backups of everything on 3 different hard drives. I am a retired computer teacher and know the value of doing such things. I look at this as...

digitalhank

I have backups of everything on 3 different hard drives. I am a retired computer teacher and know the value of doing such things. I look at this as another feature offered by Microsoft. A surprise in every update!

James Slick Loc: Pittsburgh,PA

As everyone pointed out, Backups are critical, But another thing to consider (if it is a desktop PC with room) is to install a second hard drive. My "C:\" drive is only used for the OS and software. All of "my" files are on "D:\" (still backed up externally). This saves much grief when / if a system "restore" or worse "reset" is required. Good luck finding your files.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

digitalhank wrote:

I have backups of everything on 3 different hard drives. I am a retired computer teacher and know the value of doing such things. I look at this as another feature offered by Microsoft. A surprise in every update!

I'm very happy that you have backups. Bravo! I hate to see people make this mistake. I held off letting Microsoft update my computer to Win10. I have had no problems with Win7 so I saw no reason to upgrade to Win10. I read so many reports about the failures of doing this update. I'm sure there are a lot of success stories of doing this update as well, but you usually hear more about the failures, than the successes.

mikenolan Loc: Lincoln Nebraska

Backup, backup, backup!

The search function in Win10 is total crap, things I KNOW are on the computer don't always show up! I'm a Linux geek at heart, but Linux isn't the best for photo manipulation or downloading from my cameras. So I download and do what I have to in Windows, then use Linux tools for the rest. (gimp and/or Imagemagick)

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

James Slick wrote:

As everyone pointed out, Backups are critical, But another thing to consider (if it is a desktop PC with room) is to install a second hard drive. My "C:\" drive is only used for the OS and software. All of "my" files are on "D:\" (still backed up externally). This saves much grief when / if a system "restore" or worse "reset" is required. Good luck finding your files.

I have a similar setup but took it one step further. I have a extra internal drive that I don't keep in the computer I clone my c:\ drive to it each time my system wants to update. I'm on the Windows Insider program and have installed Win 10 on my PC no less than 35 times. When I have a build that I know works well, I clone it. That way, if the next build crashes, I have an exact copy of a known good version.

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

Is it possible you're logged in as a different user? Different user = different Document and Photo folders that may have never been used and are therefore empty.... just a thought...

stevinri Loc: Rhode Island

Try Carbonite, worth every penny and then some.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

IF worse comes to worse and you CAN'T find your files
You have 30 days to UNDO the Win-10 installation.
After you FIND and Back Up your Lost Files, you could then Reinstall Winblows 10 and copy your files from your backup.