Moving current HDD to a new motherboard.

[iAM_mrBIG]

Hi everyone first time posting,

Just wanted to start out that this site/ community is great! I come ere to get a lot of answers to my problems that other users have had. Unfortunate I searched for a answer to my current issue and came up with a answer that dealt with a completely different operating system, os: XP. I am running win7 and my issue is: I need to use my current HDD with a new motherboard.

Story: I bent pins in my gigabyte p55a ud4p board and it no longer works. Bought a AsRock extreme4 with a i5 3570k. Oh yeah, my files are NOT backed up on any other HDD.

My Mission: I need to SUCCESSFULLY install the HDD with this new motherboard without formatting my HDD.


Questions: by any chance did Win7 make these kind of situations plug n play?



Solutions?





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My system:
CPU: i5 3570k
MB: ASrock extreme4 z77
GPU: gigabyte GTX470 soc
Ram: g.skillz 1600mhz 2gb x 4 sticks
PSU: Antec Eco 750w - bronze


Cooling CPU on stock air as I build a OVERKILL open loop slowly.

 

[davidgermain]

try this http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/196922-14-switching-storage-controllers-reinstalling-windows

 

[helpstar]

1st, the easiest but most dangerous way without backup:
Plugin your harddrive and just boot. Nearly all drivers should be replaced over the internet automatically.

2nd
Get another Hardrive or SSD and install Win7 on it. Plugin your old one and you will have every data you want to backup.

3rd:
Boot with a Linux Based LIVE-CD like Ubuntu and run a backup to an external drive. Format and install Win7.

 

[Blockgen]

First I just want to say wow, because I just recently bought the same motherboard and CPU, and had a similar problem.
What I did was that i split the HDD into 2 partitions, and installed Windows one the new one. Since I did this on my older motherboard, and you cant do that, I suggest doing this by attaching the HDD externally to another computer.

 

[iAM_mrBIG]

2nd
Get another Hardrive or SSD and install Win7 on it. Plugin your old one and you will have every data you want to backup.

Does this method really work as easy as it sounds? Install OS on a different HDD nd then just plug my old one to get the file off of it?

First I just want to say wow, because I just recently bought the same motherboard and CPU, and had a similar problem.
What I did was that i split the HDD into 2 partitions, and installed Windows one the new one. Since I did this on my older motherboard, and you cant do that, I suggest doing this by attaching the HDD externally to another computer.

So basically do method #2? If that is the case then so be it. I ordered a Agillity III today, 120gb. I can get all my photo items on to this ssd and then I'll formatt my Samsung spinpoint then add it to my system. After, ill fine tune my SsD/HDD. To bad I had to spend 100 to correct this situation and not spend it on oVerKill open LOOOoP set up.

 

[iAM_mrBIG]

Question for all...

If I do a straight plug in to see if my hd will auto update the drives, will I run the chance of destroying the data that is already on the HDD?

 

[davidgermain]

your data will be ok as long as you dont try to do things like repair it. if it does not boot, then the safest bet is to add the new ssd install windows ect, and then install the old drive as a secondary drive and all you data will be there.
it will be in the \Users folder, you may need the password to access the files, if you use a password to login to windows on the old installation.