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Will I lose all my stuff?

Hey guys,

 

Quickie. In less than a month I'll be building myself a brand new build, i7 4790k, watercooled, the lot. I'm currently using an AMD CPU *ducks and covers* and I have a 3 drive config, SSD for my OS and programs and 2 HDDs purely for my games, footage and other miscellaneous stuff. I was wondering since I'm changing teams would I be able to just format the SSD, reinstall windows and my programs and my HDD's will just pick up from where they left off, or would I have to format all 3? 

 

Just Curious.

 

 

Jake.

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I think Windows just requires you to repunch in your Windows key, I hope it doesn't need you to reinstall

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Hey guys,

 

Quickie. In less than a month I'll be building myself a brand new build, i7 4790k, watercooled, the lot. I'm currently using an AMD CPU *ducks and covers* and I have a 3 drive config, SSD for my OS and programs and 2 HDDs purely for my games, footage and other miscellaneous stuff. I was wondering since I'm changing teams would I be able to just format the SSD, reinstall windows and my programs and my HDD's will just pick up from where they left off, or would I have to format all 3? 

 

Just Curious.

 

 

Jake.

Why even reinstall at all just cus you'r changing cpu?? 

but yes you can just reinstall the ssd and all your other hdds wont b effected

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anything you have installed on the secondary drives will need to be reinstalled, once you switch platforms you will need to reinstall windows and in doing so you will lose your registry, if the secondary drives are just storage for media then those will be fine and wont need to be redone

CPU: i5 6600k @ 4.6 ghz  Motherboard: Asus z170-a  Cooling: Corsair h80i GT GPU: EVGA GTX 970  Ram: G.Skill 2x8 gb ddr4 2400  PSU: EVGA G2 Supernova 550w  Case: Corsair 200r Storage: 250GB 850 EVO + 2x wd 1 tb drives

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Why even reinstall at all just cus you'r changing cpu?? 

but yes you can just reinstall the ssd and all your other hdds wont b effected

Because I'm changing motherboards too. Don't you have to format if you're changing motherboards or am I mistaken?

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There are some factors that play into this. You will be glad to hear that the HDDs won't need to be formatted and all the data on them can stay.

 

You will however need to reinstall Windows on your SSD, or buy a new licence depending on your current licence. Find out if your Windows licence is OEM or Retail by looking in the System Properties (an OEM licence will have "OEM" in the Product ID, a Retail licence won't).

 

If you have an OEM licence then it will only work on the current PC (motherboard specifically) and you will have to buy a new one for your new PC and a clean install will be needed.

If it's a Retail licence then you will be able to transfer it to the new PC (motherboard), but it will then deactivate on the old PC.

 

With a retail licence you may be able to move your SSD as is by running SysPrep, but there is no guarentee this will work and could lead to issues down the line.

I recommend a clean install of Windows onto the SSD once you build the new PC (remembering to unplug the HDDs when installing so all boot files end up on the SSD).

 

If you do a clean install of Windows you will need to reinstall all of your programs as the Registry and Program Data will have been lost. This shouldn't be too hard and you ought to be able to install them right over the top of the existing install locations on your HDDs (even Steam which is especially useful for keeping you library between PCs).

 

I hope this clears things up for you, feel free to ask if you need any more help :)

"PSU brands are meaningless, look up the OEM."

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There are some factors that play into this. You will be glad to hear that the HDDs won't need to be formatted and all the data on them can stay.

 

You will however need to reinstall Windows on your SSD, or buy a new licence depending on your current licence. Find out if your Windows licence is OEM or Retail by looking in the System Properties (an OEM licence will have "OEM" in the Product ID, a Retail licence won't).

 

If you have an OEM licence then it will only work on the current PC (motherboard specifically) and you will have to buy a new one for your new PC and a clean install will be needed.

If it's a Retail licence then you will be able to transfer it to the new PC (motherboard), but it will then deactivate on the old PC.

 

With a retail licence you may be able to move your SSD as is by running SysPrep, but there is no guarentee this will work and could lead to issues down the line.

I recommend a clean install of Windows onto the SSD once you build the new PC (remembering to unplug the HDDs when installing so all boot files end up on the SSD).

 

If you do a clean install of Windows you will need to reinstall all of your programs as the Registry and Program Data will have been lost. This shouldn't be too hard and you ought to be able to install them right over the top of the existing install locations on your HDDs (even Steam which is especially useful for keeping you library between PCs).

 

I hope this clears things up for you, feel free to ask if you need any more help :)

Thanks man :) Minds at rest now.

 

I'll do a fresh install on my SSD and leave my HDD's. If I have Steam, etc. installed on my SSD but all the games on one of my HDD's will they still work all alright if I format the SSD and reinstall Steam exactly how it was before with the same directory?

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I think all the "hate" FX processors get is what's keeping me from upgrading ;)

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Thanks man :) Minds at rest now.

 

I'll do a fresh install on my SSD and leave my HDD's. If I have Steam, etc. installed on my SSD but all the games on one of my HDD's will they still work all alright if I format the SSD and reinstall Steam exactly how it was before with the same directory?

Yes, you can add the folder as a Steam Games Directory in the new Steam installation. Make sure to copy any data you need from the SSD to one of your HDDs.

Some games actually put their save files in the "userdata" folder in the default Steam directory (Trine, I'm looking at you!) so make sure not to miss any odd things like that.

 

To avoid this whole issue I've moved pretty much all my files onto my HDD. This is better for Steam as you can be sure not to lose save files and screenshots, but also some games will refuse to run out of secondary Steam Game Directories. I did this by changing the install location of Steam to a folder on my HDD (mapped to D). You can also move your profile folders to another drive in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, but I won't explain that unless you are interested :)

"PSU brands are meaningless, look up the OEM."

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I think all the "hate" FX processors get is what's keeping me from upgrading ;)

 

They're actually not that bad. I just fancied something with a bit more umph, and faster render speeds.

 

 

Yes, you can add the folder as a Steam Games Directory in the new Steam installation. Make sure to copy any data you need from the SSD to one of your HDDs.
Some games actually put their save files in the "userdata" folder in the default Steam directory (Trine, I'm looking at you!) so make sure not to miss any odd things like that.

 

To avoid this whole issue I've moved pretty much all my files onto my HDD. This is better for Steam as you can be sure not to lose save files and screenshots, but also some games will refuse to run out of secondary Steam Game Directories. I did this by changing the install location of Steam to a folder on my HDD (mapped to D). You can also move your profile folders to another drive in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, but I won't explain that unless you are interested :)

 

Thanks man!

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Thanks man! 

No worries, I'm glad I could help. Watch out for the kind of misinformation seen early in this thread, I've been seeing more of it recently...

"PSU brands are meaningless, look up the OEM."

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~snip~

 

Hey there Hannerman,
 
You simple need to reinstall the OS on the SSD and all the applications and games. You don't need to wipe the drives or remove the files at all. 
Reinstalling the OS is a good idea  since you'd need new drivers for the new CPU. This is simply being on the safe side and avoiding any potential compatibility issues and stability problems. :)
 
Do feel free to ask if you happen to have other questions :)
 
Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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