How do i save info on my hard drive when replacing motherboard

[cowgirlcap]

My processor has died and I need to upgrade my motherboard and processor because they're about 8 years old now. If I remove my old hard drive and plug it into the new board (am also getting second, bigger hd)will I have lost all of the info on the drive? If so, is there any way to keep this from happening? I built the computer I have 8 years ago, but I am still a novice at the most techie of stuff, so please answer accordingly! Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

 

[friendlyhobo]

Your data on the HDD will be fine but it is recommended that you do a fresh installation of Windows when you replace the motherboard to prevent errors. If possible, back up your data to another HDD or memory unit and then reinstall windows after replacing the motherboard because Windows will look for the components that are from the old motherboard but they don't exist so you may get errors.

EDIT:

Also, if you absolutely can not back up anything, then you can replace the motherboard and do a repair install of Windows and you should be fine.