Upgrading to new motherboard; will Windows and other files still be available?

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yowveetoo

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Dec 30, 2016
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My previous motherboard died abruptly and I didn't have a chance to back up the files on my hard drive. I bought a new motherboard, along with a new processor and DDR4 RAM. Will I still be able to use my old hard drive containing all of my files along with my copy of Windows 10? I had originally bought Windows 8 OEM and upgraded to Windows 10 for free. The installation disc and key is in a bin in storage so I don't have access to it at the moment.

My new specs:
-ASUS RGB LGA1151 DDR4 5-Way Optimization ATX Motherboard (Z170 Pro Gaming/AURA)
-Intel i3 6100
-Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2666mhz 2x8gb RAM

My old specs:
-Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-HD3 motherboard
-AMD Athlon 760k 3.8ghz
-Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 16gb RAM
 
Solution
drtweak
I have moved a PC with windows 10 on it from a AMD AM3 880 chipset Phenon II B55 to a Dell Optiplex running a i5 6500 to a new AM3+ Gigabyte 990FX chipset WITHOUT issue. Windows 10 is a LOT more forgiving when moving around PC's so long as the boot is the same (ATA/AHCI) RAID will not work unless it is an addin RAID card.

Otherwise the other work around I use is a cheap 10 dollar PCIe 1x SATA controller. Install it in the machine. Install drives, Turn off, connect HDD to SATA card and boot to make sure it boots. Now you can move that HDD to ANY machine so long as it boots off that controller or a similar one and then you can install the proper sata/chipset drives for motherboard and switch back.

Now for the licensing that is a...
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Tumeden

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Oct 15, 2016
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All your files will still physically be on the drive yes, but the issue with changing motherboards is that normally you need to do a fresh install of windows so that there are no driver issues. You almost ALWAYS need to do a fresh install of windows when changing any major component, such as a CPU or MOTHERBOARD.

When installing Windows 10 it registers to your motherboard, therefore it will be registered to your old motherboard rather then your new one - you will run into issues simply because of that.
 
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drtweak

drtweak

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Sep 17, 2012
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I have moved a PC with windows 10 on it from a AMD AM3 880 chipset Phenon II B55 to a Dell Optiplex running a i5 6500 to a new AM3+ Gigabyte 990FX chipset WITHOUT issue. Windows 10 is a LOT more forgiving when moving around PC's so long as the boot is the same (ATA/AHCI) RAID will not work unless it is an addin RAID card.

Otherwise the other work around I use is a cheap 10 dollar PCIe 1x SATA controller. Install it in the machine. Install drives, Turn off, connect HDD to SATA card and boot to make sure it boots. Now you can move that HDD to ANY machine so long as it boots off that controller or a similar one and then you can install the proper sata/chipset drives for motherboard and switch back.

Now for the licensing that is a different issue. If it is OEM. Good lucky trying to let them reactivate it with a new motherboard.

If it is retail (bought in store, from MS, etc) then call them up, tell them your mobo fried and had to get a new one and they will reactivate it for you.
 
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Solution
drtweak

drtweak

Illustrious
Sep 17, 2012
6,343
75
38,640
Just make sure the boot is the same. if it is set to Legacy, make sure the boot is legacy on the new motherboard. If it is uEFI make sure the new motherboard is uEFI. Same goes if it is ATA/AHCI/RAID (ATA and RAID will be harder as 1) Newer board dont do ATA and 2) you will have to convert form RAID to AHCI which can be done if done right.

The only other way to make this fool proof is to buy the cheapest SATA card you can by. Install it in your existing PC and boot and install drives. Then turn off the machine, plug SSD into the SATA controller and turn on and make sure it boot properly. Once that is done move the SATA card to the new PC, boot, install all your drives (And also removing old ones if possible) and then plug into onboard sata and see if it boots. If it does remote the sata card.

That is the trick i use to use all the time until i came across the new Dell PC's that we get. Starting with the intel 4th Gen the don't support PCIe 1/1.1 cards anymore and that is all I got but all new ones are PCIe 2.0 or newer. Even though on most vendor boards a PCie Gen 1 should be fine I would make sure it is 2.0 just to be sure.
 
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