Please help - possible to recover all missing files since upgrading to Windows 8.1? (Emergency)

[King$nake]

I was running Windows 8.1 Preview, and I decided to just upgrade to the full 8.1 the other day. I thought it was a supplemental upgrade - but after it completed, I noticed I had lost nearly everything. My 'My Pictures' folder was wiped clean (thousands of pictures were in there), I lost all of my software applications, and countless 'My Documents' files, etc, etc, etc.

Did the upgrade to 8.1 somehow format my HDD or something? I cant' find a system restore anywhere.

Is it possible to revert back to the way my PC was just yesterday?

I didn't back anything up. When I upgraded to Win 8.1 preview from Win 8 I never lost anything like this.

Please, please, help

 

[KSoD]

Well clearly someone didn't read the news about the upgrade process before doing so.

Microsoft goes public with Windows 8.1 upgrade policies | ZDNet

Posted June 5, 213 about the upgrade policies saying that everything would have to be reinstalled as a Preview Build is not a supported build. If you don't choose the right options, all files would be lost!

No there is no way to use a restore point and get everything back.

Update from Windows 8.1 Preview to Windows 8.1 - Microsoft Windows Help

Even Microsoft warns of such things. So you better hope that some recovery software like Recuva can get your files back and BACKUP! Plus READ IN ADVANCE. You were running an unsupported OS as your primary OS, which is already against the suggestions. They say not to run the Preview on a production machine. They say to use it ONLY AS A TEST.

Sorry to say there but you failed to read the warnings. They have been there since the Preview program began. Hope you can get the stuff back with Recuva. If not, tough lesson to learn about backups.

 

[Bruletech]

R-Studio is a great file recovery solution. I use it all the time if my phone's SD card goes wacky. You might try it on your pc. If you're lucky that it was a quick format instead of a full, you might be able to recover done of your pictures