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new mobo and cpu but with old hard drive

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  • Components
  • Hard Drives
  • Motherboards
  • CPUs
Last response: in Components
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September 4, 2014 12:49:25 PM

after putting in my new graphics card into my pc it killed my mobo so i didnt have chance to get all of my files off my hard drive. will i be able to put my new mobo and cpu in with my old hard drive so i can keep all of the files? or will i have to do a fresh install and lose all my school work? i am upgrading from a biostar A780L3C and AMD Athlon ii 270 to ASRock 980DE3/U3S3 motherboard and a AMD FX 6350

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September 4, 2014 1:26:49 PM

honestly its a crap shoot. usually if the Chipset isnt the same, windows will balk but other times I have had no problem. I have built dozens of workstations and its really 50/50 when swapping a harddrive that already has the OS loaded.
however you wont loose your info even if you have to reinstall. assuming you have plenty of space, when reinstalling windows 7 it will give you the option to store your previous installation ina folder called "windows-Old" and you will be able to access all your folders within.

If this makes you nervous then purchase a new hard drive and do a clean install there then plug your old hard drive in as a backup to access your data.

Or if you have an external hard drive you can back all your data up to that. this was if anything goes wrong you have a backup.
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September 4, 2014 1:43:21 PM

DHFF said:
honestly its a crap shoot. usually if the Chipset isnt the same, windows will balk but other times I have had no problem. I have built dozens of workstations and its really 50/50 when swapping a harddrive that already has the OS loaded.
however you wont loose your info even if you have to reinstall. assuming you have plenty of space, when reinstalling windows 7 it will give you the option to store your previous installation ina folder called "windows-Old" and you will be able to access all your folders within.

If this makes you nervous then purchase a new hard drive and do a clean install there then plug your old hard drive in as a backup to access your data.

Or if you have an external hard drive you can back all your data up to that. this was if anything goes wrong you have a backup.


thanks for the understandable response, most people on here just talk and talk and i end up getting confused... the chipsets are the same but i wont risk it, i will just do a fresh install and get all of my work from the windows.old folder. after i copy and past it from the windows folder will i be able to delete it so i can get some space on my hard drive back?
also is there a way of getting all of my programs and their data back as well?
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a b V Motherboard
a b à CPUs
September 4, 2014 1:50:48 PM

If the chipset is the same then you dont have anything to loose. just plug the hard drive into the new setup and see if it boots. if it does you are golden. if it doesnt boot, it wont damage your data, it just wont boot. in which case you re install.
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a b V Motherboard
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September 4, 2014 1:53:06 PM

Yes once you do a new install and have all the contents of your old system stored in Windows.Old you will be able to read, copy and delete all those files just like any other folder. its just regular data at this point.

as for getting your programs back. sad to say no one has figured that out yet. there are programs out there that claim you to let you move programs from one computer to another without re installing the program but I have never encountered one that actually worked.
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September 4, 2014 1:53:38 PM

DHFF said:
If the chipset is the same then you dont have anything to loose. just plug the hard drive into the new setup and see if it boots. if it does you are golden. if it doesnt boot, it wont damage your data, it just wont boot. in which case you re install.


okay thanks i will try that when it gets delivered
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