I have just installed W7 (an upgrade from Vista), and much to my disappointment, I'm already having problems. I'm unable to locate/access files that were saved on an external hard drive. File folders come up as empty, but I know the files are there. Attempting to move acopy of one of the affected files to where the original file was saved, I get the message, "Could not find this item. This is no longer located in J:\My Pictures. Verify the item's location and try again." I tried again which, of course, had the same result.In another area, concerning .flac-files, I'm unable to decode these files. Neither of the two programs I've tried, FLAC Frontend and Trader's Little Helper, recognize the files for what they are, in the one case (FLAC Frontend) refusing a drag-and-drop maneuver, and in the other (TLH) treating them as corrupt and non-decodeable.If someone has any handy pointers for how to resolve these issues, I would be most grateful. Thank you.

Was the hard drive written when you were running Vista?Are you logging in using the exactsame account you were using when you ran Vista? I'm guessing not.If not, the permissions on the folders and files on the external hard drive may not be set so that you can see them. In this case you'll need to take ownership of all files and folders (can be done with one operation) and then assign yourself (or Administrators or Users, whatever you prefer) Full Control permissions (again, can be done with one operation).Hope this helps.-Noel

The computer was purchased brand-new on 9/15/09 and came with Vista. I am logging in using the exactsame account I was using when I ran Vista.

Can you navigate with Explorer to the root folder on the external hard drive, right-click on a file or folder there, choose Properties, then the Security tab.What groups and permissions do you see?For example, if the Administrators group has a checkbox next to Full control, and you're logging in as an Administrator, you should be able to access files on the hard drive.-Noel

Thanks, Noel. Your answer solved one of the issues - the "missing" files have now been located by adding groups and setting the appropriate permissions.