Switching from LGA1200 to AM5 do I need to format and reinstall windows on my SSD or can I just plug it and run it?

Velur · September 13

I’m specifically switching from an ASRock B560 Steel Legend to an ASRock B650M Pro RS. My SSD is a PCIe 3.0 Samsung 1TB. I currently don’t have somewhere to back up my drive and I’m tight on budget after the platform upgrade. I could squeeze out a 128 GB flash drive, where I’d store only my important stuff since 85% of my 820 GB of occupied storage is just games (steam, epic games) and Medal clips that I could upload to the cloud temporarily with a free trial.

I have read though that formatting an SSD with games from steam on it will erase the save files too. I don’t think it makes sense due to steam cloud but I wouldn’t risk it either

I need y’all’s input. Is it safe to run the SSD as is on the new motherboard? Should I back up my personal save data with a flash drive or should I just wait till I can get an external hard drive? Can google drive or Dropbox function as a backup?

Thank you.

ImWilly · September 13

12 minutes ago, Velur said:

I need y’all’s input. Is it safe to run the SSD as is on the new motherboard?

Most of the case yes, just plug and play. Although some would argue about the deeper compatibility because Windows system from previous rig would retain the optimal setting and will have quite a hard time to adjust (if ever) from B560M mobo + CPU Intel 10/11th Gen + DDR4 to the new rig B650 mobo + CPU AM5 +DDR5 RAM

12 minutes ago, Velur said:

Should I back up my personal save data with a flash drive or should I just wait till I can get an external hard drive?

If the file is not OS related such as video files, project files, sure you can.

If the file is game installation pack especially from Steam, you could 'redownload' on the new rig (assuming old and new rig are on and connected to the same local ethernet / Wi-Fi). But you can still 'copy and paste' the game installation file and let Steam do the file integrity and checking after pasting

As for EpicGames, they don't support redownload from local network storage, but I have tested 'copy and paste' and it works fine

12 minutes ago, Velur said:

Can google drive or Dropbox function as a backup?

Sure, assuming you have good internet speed.

But if it's just game files and you're not working mobile (for example you work a project on your PC rig, then you bring a laptop to present your project to client or co-worker at outside), having a flashdrive or dedicated external harddisk is also a great choice, plus you don't have to pay monthly subscription Cloud storage fee or higher speed Internet just if you want to have faster download and upload speed