Need To Clean Install Windows 7 As Replacing Motherboard

[Paterson37]

Hi guys!

I'm upgrading my motherboard and CPU from an Asus Rampage II Extreme and i7 920 to an Asus X99 Deluxe and i7 5820k.

I've been told is be best to put a clean install of Windows 7 on there.

I'm not 100% how to approach this. A few months back I cloned my old HDD onto a Samsung 850EVO as I wanted to avoid having to reinstall all my programs etc.

So, what's my best bet? Backing up my SSD onto an HDD, then installing Windows 7 and reinstalling everything? If so, what's the best backup software to use?

Or are there any other suggestions? Would I in fact be able to just ask the motherboard to boot from the SSD and take it from there without having to reinstalls Windows?

Thanks guys!!!

[OnekillWalter]

best would be a clean install. you'll spend more time trying to clone back and forth than going for a clean installation directly.

[Paterson37]

Doing a clean install what's the best way to back up all of my data and programs?

[LogicalDrm]

Doing a clean install what's the best way to back up all of my data and programs?

Imo by hand aka manually. Then again, I have moved away from using windows predefined save locations to most stuff for easier backupping. Most settings you'll find either under Users\<name>\Documents or Users\<name>\AppData\Roaming. Steam games have their own folder under \Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\

Then there are savefiles/settings that can be exported from software or you just have to redo. Or use built-in sync ability like with Chrome and Firefox.