upgrade to 8.1 before or after major hardware upgrade?

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astakiller89

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next week i will be swapping my old cpu and motherboard with new more powerful ones. I am not

doing a fresh install of windows 8. i am just swapping the OS HDD to the new mobo and since im

hopping from an amd board to an amd board i most likely wont run into any issues requiring me to do a fresh install of the OS.

That being said i know the risk and am willing to do whatever i have to in any case.

What i really need to know is should i try to do the windows 8.1 update with my current setup

before i do the mobo and cpu upgrade, or should i wait to try it after i have the upgraded system

put together.

NOTE: I already have everything backed up on 2 different usb hard drives.

Please, any information is appreciated and welcome. :)
 
Solution
USAFRet
so whats the best way to back up what i have on my windows native "c drive" can i just drag and drop, or is there a way to exact image the drive to a new HDD.
Click to expand...

Depends on what exactly you want to save.
Just files (Docs/Music/etc)...no problem. Just create a couple of folders on the target drive and copy them over. Don't copy the entire 'Documents' folder. That has specific permissions on it, tied to your current user. The files inside do not.

If you want an image of the whole drive, and of the various cloning applications would work. CloneZilla, DriveImageXML, etc.
But if you're going to reinstall fresh anyway, you don't need to do that.
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astakiller89

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I figured as much, but i needed some type of confirmation or 3rd party educated opinion to make up my mind. Thank you!
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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However...with a new CPU and motherboard, I would do a clean install anyway, when the new hardware is in place.
And the hardware, even if it is AMD -> AMD, may not give you a choice.
 
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astakiller89

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Yeah but even though i did a back up, does it save all my game

installations and whatnot? I torrent a lot so i have a mass amount of

audio, games, programs etc that i dont want to lose from a fresh

install, and windows 8 filehistory doen't back that stuff up does it? do

you have to manually back up that type of stuff? and if so can you

actually back up game installation folders and have them still work

after transferring them to a fresh install?

This is my first windows 8 hardware system upgrade, plenty of xp experience on my belt, swapping drives and what not. But im out of my element on this one.
 
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Astralv

Astralv

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Far as I know, the Windows installation is bound to the motherboard, unless it was retail version- I am not familiar with the user agreement for it. If it is OEM, you will not be able to reuse it. What is the source of your Win. 8? As USAFRet pointed out, it is best to do the clean install. If you able to reuse your Win 8, I would reinstall OS and then update. But a lot depends on your programs. I just had to reinstall and realize that back up is not very helpful- it is a lot of work. It's been over a week, and I still installing and troubleshooting everything.
 
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astakiller89

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Well, to be honest, i've call several of my local very reliable pc stores in my area, and done plenty of forum searching, and from what ive been told, since i do have an oem version of windows 8, (both 32 bit and 64 bit discs) if i run into an issue from switching motherboards and processors, i will be able to retain my genuine certification, and if i did run into an issue, i could re certify through microsoft support. im not too worried about that, i just want to know how to not lose all my game installs, with savegame files and what not, and in the even that i did have to do a fresh install, if i would be able to simply click and drop the installations onto the clean install drive without issues,

Otherwise im going to buy a new ssd drive do a fresh install and slave my current os drive and make desktop links to my games on the SSD to the HDD.

please tell me if im talking nonsense.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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This is the perfect time to buy another hard drive for backup if you don't have one already.

Steam has a backup solution built in. Other games you'll have to figure out where the save data is.
For all your other stuff....save it elsewhere. As you should do with any major hardware or OS change. Just in case.
Have it offline during the changeover. That way you will lose nothing.

Most of the time a Windows upgrade or reinstall works. Most of the time.

I don't want to read a post from you a week from now..."AAARRGGG! I lost all my stuff!"


Gather all your installation disks and install files. Save, to a couple of USB drives, all your passwords, usernames and serial numbers etc.
Clean install on the new hardware.
Reinstall all your applications.

For Windows 8, it is no longer tied to that first motherboard as it was with Windows 7 OEM. You can reinstall as needed.
 
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astakiller89

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haha, the arrrgh is exactloy what i want to avoid. Thing is i just spend 300 buck on a new mobo, case, and cpu. Now i have no money for another drive. I have a 300gb usb external, a 150 HDD that i use for just plain storage, and then i have my OS HDD Which is a 500. So unless i i wait another 2 or 3 weeks to put together 200 buck to buy a somewhat quality, qualified SSD. I'm stuck with what i have.

I really appreciate all the advice. I'm going to try the hard swap first i think, and if it creates problems not worth pursuing. then clean install it is on a new ssd.
 
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Astralv

Astralv

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Well- I attempted to use the same key on the next Win 8 build, it installed and activated, but a week later- it told me that this key was already registered and to provide another key.

Interestingly that you mentioned password and serial list. I had a world document with important information. I had it pined in Word for easy access. Well... I ran Seagate software backup, snapshot mode. It did copy of all files, except that file. I don't know why, but it did not back up that one file. The program even made a Backup of external Seagate hard drive on which it was storing backup data. I could open early versions of this document that were backed up from another computer on that drive, but not the latest file. I also noted that it did not store Desktop and some other data, and system files, it only backed up personal folders. So make sure you have what you need.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Doesn't have to be a $200 SSD. A $60 1TB HDD will work just fine for the backup stuff.
 
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astakiller89

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Oct 22, 2013
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so whats the best way to back up what i have on my windows native "c drive" can i just drag and drop, or is there a way to exact image the drive to a new HDD.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Mar 16, 2013
171,751
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so whats the best way to back up what i have on my windows native "c drive" can i just drag and drop, or is there a way to exact image the drive to a new HDD.
Click to expand...

Depends on what exactly you want to save.
Just files (Docs/Music/etc)...no problem. Just create a couple of folders on the target drive and copy them over. Don't copy the entire 'Documents' folder. That has specific permissions on it, tied to your current user. The files inside do not.

If you want an image of the whole drive, and of the various cloning applications would work. CloneZilla, DriveImageXML, etc.
But if you're going to reinstall fresh anyway, you don't need to do that.
 
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Astralv

Astralv

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As I wrote in my earlier post- there are several types of back up. You can use image, it available under Windows, but there will be no feeling of "new". You can use 3rd party software but you will have to study them. A lot of them back up media and even Facebook wall and pictures. Seagate Dashboard backup did strange job. It copied backup drive itself because it was connected, so it went in to a loop, copying itself inside itself over and over. There is restore button but I am hesitant to use it.
 
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