I am not really sure WHY this happened, but I am so upset right now. On my development machine, I installed the Windows 8.1 release from the Windows Store on a machine that had the Windows 8.1 preview installed.

It's bad enough that much to my surprise, the installation was not an upgrade at all but rather a new Windows installation that migrated most of my user profile but none of my apps. I wasn't looking forward to the 2 days or so it would take to reinstall everything the way I had it before.

But even worse is that I went to look in the Windows.old folder for several MSSQL databases that I expected to find in their default location under Program Files only to find that they were nowhere to be found! The .MDF and .LDF files are gone! Yet the master, tempdb, etc are right where I'd expect them to be. I managed to find traces of these files with an undelete application but they are unrecoverable.

Because these weren't production databases, I have no backups of course. I have files where the data originally came from, but the stored procedures, table schemas, etc. are all gone. Naturally there's nothing that can be done about it at this point but I just need to understand WHY did Windows 8.1 selectively blow away my MSSQL databases while seemingly moving everything else to Windows.old???

Hi

This is typical behavior for updating any Preview version of Windows. Pre-release (Beta) code is always completely removed with a clean install.

The only files that are safe during this process are those that are located in the User Account folders. These files are set aside in a temporary location and then restored after the update. Files in system locations will be at risk

Windows 8.1 Preview FAQ
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=301773

Will I be able to keep my files, settings, and apps if I install Windows 8.1 Preview?

When you install subsequent editions of Windows 8.1 you'll be able to keep your personal files, but you'll need to reinstall your apps.

Windows 8.1 Preview: An Enterprise Call to Action:
http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/springboard/archive/2013/06/27/windows-8-1-preview-an-enterprise-call-to-action.aspx

Regards

• Edited by Ronnie VernonMVP, Moderator Thursday, October 24, 2013 9:33 PM Edit
• Proposed as answer by Kate LiMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Friday, October 25, 2013 10:25 AM

Hi

This is typical behavior for updating any Preview version of Windows. Pre-release (Beta) code is always completely removed with a clean install.

The only files that are safe during this process are those that are located in the User Account folders. These files are set aside in a temporary location and then restored after the update. Files in system locations will be at risk

Windows 8.1 Preview FAQ
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=301773

Will I be able to keep my files, settings, and apps if I install Windows 8.1 Preview?

When you install subsequent editions of Windows 8.1 you'll be able to keep your personal files, but you'll need to reinstall your apps.

Windows 8.1 Preview: An Enterprise Call to Action:
http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/springboard/archive/2013/06/27/windows-8-1-preview-an-enterprise-call-to-action.aspx

Regards

• Edited by Ronnie VernonMVP, Moderator Thursday, October 24, 2013 9:33 PM Edit
• Proposed as answer by Kate LiMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Friday, October 25, 2013 10:25 AM
• Marked as answer by Ronnie VernonMVP, Moderator 16 hours 24 minutes ago

I have been installing and reinstalling Windows OS's for two decades and I've never in my life seen an instance where it would move everything to Windows.old *except* for my MSSQL databases. That makes no sense whatsoever.

The update warned me that I would need to reinstall my apps - for whatever reason, I had assumed that meant Windows Store apps, but either way that's not what's driving me crazy. What I am trying to understand is why the update selectively chose to either delete or simply not retain my SQL database files, yet seems to have moved everything else from Program Files to Windows.old.

Same problem, I also lost my local databases. It is very terribly!