help, cleaning hard drive

[Angelon]

hello i have a hard drive thats about 5 years old. I was wondering if i could delete all the files except for windows 10 and other important file and moving the drive into my new computer. while there by problems if i do? should i just buy a new hard drive?

 

what I'm planning on buying

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/wKpqhq

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($235.49 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($29.90 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($144.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($79.54 @ NCIX US) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card  ($414.98 @ B&H) 
Case: NZXT H440 (Glossy White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($73.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1227.75
 

[Electronics Wizardy]

You can keep the drive, just reinstall windows.

[Captain_WD]

1 hour ago, Angelon said:

~snip~

Hi there

 

As @Electronics Wizardy suggested, you can reuse all your storage rives in your new system but you will need to reinstall your OS as it has been configured to work with other set of hardware. You may be able to boot from your old OS but you will encounter many problems and it will be unstable. 

Reinstalling it will create a new system registry and you won't be able to run your old applications and games so you will need to reinstall those too. 

You should be able to access everything else without issues. 

 

I would simply move everything away from the old C partition (everything you need that is), place the drive in the new system, run the installation media of the OS, delete the old C partition as well as the old system partitions without touching the rest of the data, install the new OS on the remaining unallocated space (it will create a new partition and will format it) and you should be ready to go. Simply reinstall your applications and games and everything should be back to normal.

 

If you are reusing that WD Blue I would recommend running some diagnostic tests first so you are on the safe side that the drive is still healthy and won't pose any threat to your data. You can do that with WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics. Check if the drive passes both the quick and the extended tests. 

 

Let me know if you have any questions! 

 

Captain_WD.