Will a HDD with games/progs on, and no OS work on a new(ish) build?

Hoops71

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May 21, 2015
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4,510
Hi, I want to upgrade my PC (m/b, GPU, RAM, 250gig SSD + 500gig 7200rpm HDD) ,keeping only the CPU, Case and Power unit from my original PC. At the moment I have a single, old HDD installed which contains my OS (Win7 64bit) and all of my other software including games, Office applications etc.
Now, I realise (even if I wanted to!) that I cant just hook up this old HDD to my new m/b and expect everything to be hunky dory. So Im going to buy another copy of Win 7 to install on my new SSD. Im fine with that, and I know I can copy my games etc onto my other ,new, 7200 HDD with the use of software like Steam Mover. But when I connect this new HDD to my new m/b once everything is set up will these games and applications actually run?
Hope that makes sense! Cheers!
 
Solution
I think I understand what you're asking... after you install a new Drive and reinstall Windows... will your old games work that were on your original hard drive.

The answer is... YES, they could... BUT there is a catch (always a catch, huh?)

I'm not sure which games you have installed.. but some of them have a tendency to store profile, settings, and game saves in hidden folders. All you need to do is...BEFORE starting... go to Folder Options and check the option to "Show Hidden Folders". Once you do that, there are three locations you need to check:

C\ProgramData
C\Users\<name>\AppData\Local
C\Users\<name>\AppData\Roaming

Just go to those locations.. and look at all the folders there and see if any of the games (or programs)...

Hoops71

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May 21, 2015
3
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4,510
Ah so what you're saying is , something might get left behind on the old HDD and cause the game/application to crash/not run? What would you recommend I use to transfer the files I need onto the new HDD? And, lets say for arguaments sake the transfer goes smoothly will I be able to run the games/applications with the new m/b ,OS etc?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


There is no "Transfer". Reinstall from the original setup file(s).
Your personal files (doc/music/video) are fine.
 

SBMfromLA

Distinguished
I think I understand what you're asking... after you install a new Drive and reinstall Windows... will your old games work that were on your original hard drive.

The answer is... YES, they could... BUT there is a catch (always a catch, huh?)

I'm not sure which games you have installed.. but some of them have a tendency to store profile, settings, and game saves in hidden folders. All you need to do is...BEFORE starting... go to Folder Options and check the option to "Show Hidden Folders". Once you do that, there are three locations you need to check:

C\ProgramData
C\Users\<name>\AppData\Local
C\Users\<name>\AppData\Roaming

Just go to those locations.. and look at all the folders there and see if any of the games (or programs) have a listing there. It could be the name of the game or the developer or even the publisher... You never know. For example, some old Gamehouse games I have save in a folder called Gamehouse... If you use Firefox, you would see a folder called Mozilla that has your profile and all your settings and add-ons.

Once you find them.. just make a quick copy... then do your thing/upgrade.. and once everything is completed... those files you copied.. just copy them back to the same exact spot on your new install of Windows... and you should be fine. The last thing you would need to do is to just go the install folders for all your games and create new SHORTCUTS for each program... really fast and simple.

One final thing.. it's possible that you might accidentally miss something or forget to copy something you might need. If you want to play it safe.. just copy the entire set of folders and sort through them as your leisure..
 
Solution

Hoops71

Reputable
May 21, 2015
3
0
4,510


Thats exactly what I mean! Cheers all,especially SBM. I have quite a few hours invested in such games as Skyrim and X3....I'd be gutted f I lost my saves and had to start over! Just hope it works for Word and Excel as I dont have the origina disk! Worth a try, thanks again! :)

 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Moving Steam games: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129
Basically, just pointing your Steam client at the new location of the steamapps folder on what is not the D drive.