Switched from ITunes to Apple Devices and Icloud, and Now Photos Gone

I had a 5th generation IPad that had over 6000 photos and 1,000 videos on it. In the past, I backed it up and synced it to ITunes on my Win 10 PC. I replaced the Ipad with an 8th generation one earlier this year and had no issues moving all my apps and photos/videos to that one. Recently, when Apple said it was doing away with ITunes and moving to the Apple Devices, TV, and Music Apps, i reluctantly made the switch because they were promoted as being way easier to work with than ITunes. When my 8th gen IPad started to have issues charging, I backed it up on Apple Devices. A message popped up saying there was a new version of ios and offered to update it. i normally don't update while connected to ITunes - usually do that via wifi - but allowed it to update. It crashed the IPad to the point that i could not recover anything or even reload/reset ios to the "new" configuration. I spoke directly to an Apple tech on the phone, and after trying several things unsuccessfully, they suggested I take it to a local authorized dealer (Best Buy), which i did. The dealer was unable to resolve it and said it was a hardware issue. Since the Ipad was still under warranty, i returned it and bought a new one. When the new one arrived, one of the options during set up was to transfer from a back up, so i plugged it into my PC and fired up Apple Devices App and started to bring over the last back-up. Half way through, it did the same thing...crashed the Ipad to the point that it couldn't be recovered or reset to new. I returned it and bought another Ipad and am waiting for it to arrive. I spoke to another Apple tech about the issue and asked if there was a way to delete the 3 new Apple apps and restore ITunes to its previous function, but she did not understand my question and never answered me. Her suggestion was to upload to Icloud and then sync the new Ipad to Icloud. I purchased more storage and then synced the 5th generation Ipad. I received a message about Finder and then it deleted almost all of my photos and videos from my Ipad!. They are not in the cloud and not on my Ipad. A few posts I read said that they are on my PC because I synced there, but i can't hook up to Apple Devices because that app has already destroyed 2 Ipads. 1) is there a way to get the "old" functioning version of Itunes back? 2) How do i get my photos and videos from my PC to Icloud without hooking up/destroying my new Ipad? 3) I've read about a more powerful app called IMazing..will it be able to use the backups and syncing generated through ITunes, and if so, how d I do that? 4) Since Apple Devices does not work, how do I add photos and videos from my PC to my new Ipad? 5) Same thing with my IPod Touch...after the switch over, I can now no longer add songs to it...has Apple "bricked" Ipods with these new apps? If not, how do I add music to it if the App does not even recognize it (Apple Music App)? This is so frustrating!! I expect this from Microsoft, but not from Apple!!! Help!!