If you happen to have a problem with SQL Server not starting on Windows 8 (probably only happens when upgrading from Windows 7, but could be on fresh install too), check the event log. If it says something like "Cannot use file X because it was originally formatted with sector size 4096 and is now on a volume with sector size 3072", you might have a problem with your drivers. Your drive probably didn't change sector size, it's just being reported that way.
I have a Latitude D830 and had this problem. The error was fixed by removing and reinstalling Intel Matrix Storage drivers (version 9.6 for me). The newer Rapid Storage thingy didn't install and I had to search for the 9.6 since the Intel download page only had 8.8 as a previous version. But after this everything worked fine.
On a related note, also if upgrading to a 500GB+ drive makes Messenger crash, the Intel drivers help with that too. Strange things...