Formatting Single SSD for new MOBO

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ricoex

Honorable
Mar 24, 2016
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So i only have one storage device which everything runs from.its an SSD.I am looking to change my CPU and Motherboard.I am going to format the SSD for the new hardware but i am unsure as to why and how this is suppose to happen.So as it stands my plan is install new hardware and boot with my SSD as it was.I will be booting with my windows USB tool connected to new MOBO and will go straight into my bios so i can boot from USB device.I will click to install windows and then select my SSD and choose to format.Then install windows on the SSD and hope it works.

Thing is i am unclear to why the format is important.My actual main concern was if i didnt format the SSD, the BIOS would not recognize the new hardware and cause massive issues/damage.As i thought i could just uninstall old hardware drivers and install new hardware drivers once windows got started for new hardware.But after reading things off google searches, it seems the format is more important because windows will be most effected.

Basicly i want to know if the way i plan to do this is the correct way.And to assure me that my BIOS/hardware/SSD will all recognize each other with no issues on first boot without formatting SSD on old hardware first.

Also i am running windows 10.So could i just boot straight to windows with new CPU/MOBO and once windows is loaded and on desktop, go to settings and just do a windows delete/reinstall from there?
 
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R
OK, a couple of things to clear up:
Firstly: The BIOS and SSD talk to each other using well defined standards that will work whatever you've got on the SSD. You could have Linux, MacOS, a completely empty and unformatted drive - it doesn't matter, the SSD and BIOS communicate on a lower level which should just work.
So the new BIOS will on boot detect the SSD as a SATA storage device - no problems.

The issue with trying to boot a copy of Windows on a brand new motherboard and CPU comes down to drivers. Most hardware requires specific drivers which allow the operating system to communicate properly with the hardware. Windows is pretty good at detecting and managing a few hardware changes. You can swap out video cards, sound cards, even...
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rhysiam

Splendid
Mar 24, 2013
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OK, a couple of things to clear up:
Firstly: The BIOS and SSD talk to each other using well defined standards that will work whatever you've got on the SSD. You could have Linux, MacOS, a completely empty and unformatted drive - it doesn't matter, the SSD and BIOS communicate on a lower level which should just work.
So the new BIOS will on boot detect the SSD as a SATA storage device - no problems.

The issue with trying to boot a copy of Windows on a brand new motherboard and CPU comes down to drivers. Most hardware requires specific drivers which allow the operating system to communicate properly with the hardware. Windows is pretty good at detecting and managing a few hardware changes. You can swap out video cards, sound cards, even storage and network controllers. But there are some fundamental chipset drivers which are critical for the operating system to function. Change those out and Windows can't boot, because it doesn't know how to communicate with that device, but can't boot without it. That's why people generally recommend a fresh OS install on a new mobo+cpu. When Windows installs it analyses the hardware and grabs the device drivers it needs to communicate with hit.

Some people I've heard from have had success just booting on a brand new machine. Windows will certainly try to find drivers it needs. It might work. It just makes me nervous because having old/incorrect drivers kicking around can be a recipe for instability and problems down the track. My personal advice is just to do a fresh build if you can.

During the Windows install you will have the option to reformat the drive - that's the one you want to take.

Also - just to reassure you, everything you're doing with BIOS/OS/SSD is at a software level. You can screw up your OS and stop it from booting, but you really can't do any damage at a hardware level. If worst comes to worst, just put your Windows USB in, format the SSD again, and start from scratch and you should be fine.
 
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