reinstalling windows when programs are kept on drive F:

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Viperveteran

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Mar 19, 2014
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Hi everyone,

This is my first post here even though I have been using this forum for a while :).

Anyway, I am upgrading my PC and I understand that it is likely that I will have to re-install windows 7 on my HDD if my new mobo doesn't boot the HDD up. My issue is that the drive that I have windows installed on is not the drive that I install my programs and documents on. I have reinstalled windows various times on a single drive installation and am familiar with the process but I have never done what I might have to do before.

Here is what my drive set-up currently looks like:
C: 500gb Windows 64 (bare installation, windows updates and Mcafee)
F: 1.5Tb Programs and Documents
E: 500gb Game recordings

As I haven't received my motherboard I haven't run into any problems yet but as this is something that I am not used to and I can see that there might be issues with my programs I wanted to get some insight from others who might have had to deal with a similar situation.

I am guessing that I will have to re-install the programs but will that process cause me to lose my program settings?

Will the fact that the programs are already present on the F: drive speed up the process when I set my programs to install to the F: drive again?

Other than re-entering serials are there any other potential issues that might arise with this set up?

Finally, if my new mobo does boot the old installation will I be fine once I install the drivers for the new mobo?

Thank you in advance

Viperveteran
 
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house70

house70

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Apr 21, 2010
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You will need to re-activate your OS once in the new system, but otherwise it should be good to go.
After that you might need to re-assign the drive(s) letters to coincide with the one(s) the programs were installed on initially. That can be done in Disk Manager.
 
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dextermat

dextermat

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Sep 21, 2007
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Hi,

You will need to reinstall some programs:

1- drivers for the mobo
2- programs like office, and antivirus some monitoring, temperature and overclocking, most standalone games.

If you play games on steam, you wont need to reinstall, the games will do some basic updates once started but no big downloads.
 
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pauls3743

pauls3743

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Dec 24, 2011
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IF you're drive boots on the new motherboard it will map your existing hard drives to the drive letters they've already been assigned but it's not guaranteed.

However, if it doesn't you're looking at a fresh install. Unfortunately, it also means having to re-install all your programs and it won't be any quicker.

Regardless of what could happen I would suggest running the Windows Easy Transfer Wizard before the upgrade, while it won't transfer programs it will transfer a number of files and settings.
 
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