Saving E & F drives in motherboard upgrade

[Papalarge]

Hi guys,
I have C Drive 64gb SSD (OS), E Drive 500gb SSD for games Origin and Steam installed on it and F Drive 1.5tb HHD with some programs installed on it. I am upgrading my Motherboard (Fatality X99X Killer), CPU (i7-5820K), 32gb Corsair Ram and a SAPPHIRE NITRO Radeon R9 390.
So my existing board has Windows 7 OEM on it, I am installing a new copy of Windows 7 on to a Samsung SSD EVO 840 120gb (Got it last X-Mass never installed it).
Now my question is there a way of keeping the programs that are on E Drive and F Drive without having to reinstall all the programs that are on them?

Thanks in advance.

 

[LMiller7]

Migrating installed applications from one OS to another is highly problematic. There is software that claims to do this but I wouldn't trust it.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Unless I'm missing some thing you should be able to use the same install as the previous board,
The only thing bad now is the activation key and you now have another oem to replace it with.
As long as the oem is the same version as the first all you should have to do is change the key to the newer one :/

You could also contact M$ and explain the defective board deal and they may reactivate the prior key for you

 

[AddRAM]

There is no reason to ever install programs on a separate dfive, not even to save space, they should always be kept with windows for image purposes. Games are another story, but if what Mike says does not work you will be reinstalling everything again. If you reinstall to the new ssd then you'll surely be reinstalling the programs.

 

[Papalarge]

ThrashZone Hi,
Unless I'm missing some thing you should be able to use the same install as the previous board,
The only thing bad now is the activation key and you now have another oem to replace it with.
As long as the oem is the same version as the first all you should have to do is change the key to the newer one :/

You could also contact M$ and explain the defective board deal and they may reactivate the prior key for you

So Trashzone if I transfer the existing 64 gb SSD C Drive with OS to the new 120gb SSD before I do the Hardware switch, then when I install it on the new Motherboard just use the new product key code (the new OS and old OS are the same, both are an OEM copy). If I do this is there any Prep that I need to do? and Will I be able to use the old motherboard in another rig?

AddRAM There is no reason to ever install programs on a separate dfive, not even to save space, they should always be kept with windows for image purposes. Games are another story, but if what Mike says does not work you will be reinstalling everything again. If you reinstall to the new ssd then you'll surely be reinstalling the programs.

Addram I have never heard of not being able to or you shouldn't put programs on another drive, why wouldn't you?

 

[AddRAM]

As I said, everything SHOULD BE kept on C, not HAS TO BE, for backup image purposes. You only had a 64 GB drive, so I could see why you might want to install some programs on another drive, but now that you`re going to a larger drive, I would keep everything on the new Samsung, excluding your data of course. I too keep my games on another hard drive, only because they eat up space and it`s no big deal to reinstall a game when you do a clean install, and all your saved game data is right there on the other hard drive.

You are going from an Asus to an Asus board, so Mikes plan may work, but then again windows may not boot, there is a good chance it will and you`ll just have to reactivate windows. Personally I would clean install on the new drive on the new board as you planned.

 

[Papalarge]

AddRAM As I said, everything SHOULD BE kept on C, not HAS TO BE, for backup image purposes. You only had a 64 GB drive, so I could see why you might want to install some programs on another drive, but now that you`re going to a larger drive, I would keep everything on the new Samsung, excluding your data of course. I too keep my games on another hard drive, only because they eat up space and it`s no big deal to reinstall a game when you do a clean install, and all your saved game data is right there on the other hard drive.

You are going from an Asus to an Asus board, so Mikes plan may work, but then again windows may not boot, there is a good chance it will and you`ll just have to reactivate windows. Personally I would clean install on the new drive on the new board as you planned.

I'm going from an Asus to a Asrock board. But if I do a clean install will i lose anything on the E Drive (250gb of games) and on the F Drive pictures and movies?
thanks for a speedy reply I really [FONT=&quot]appreciate all your help.[/FONT]

 

[ThrashZone]

It's worth a try
Will save a ton of reinstalling
Most would use this to transfer to another ssd/ hdd
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html
You'd just have to do both partitions and make the recovery cd
Boot to the cd and cross your fingers

Worst case would be you'd have to clean install
The switching brands of boards could bring a snag

I do agree os and programs should be on the same drive for the best performance but many people do install on a separate.

Prep well just make sure the bios settings are the same secure boot/ fast boot = off
I've never tried it personally but a boot loader is just that and the new board should be able to read it.

The other install is still attached to the old board so as long as it works so should the install :/

 

[AddRAM]

You won`t loose anything on those drives, you are going to unplug them before you install windows on the new ssd, sorry for the mix up on the boards, I was using my phone and no glasses

 

[Layback Bear]

My opinion for what it's worth, when changing motherboards it's alway best to do a Clean Install of the operating system and programs.
This way the bios, and Windows 7 and it's drivers ect. don't argue.
Yes it takes longer.

Remember when you change the motherboard only a Retail Windows 7 COA key will be transferable to the new system so Windows 7 will activate properly.

This is just my opinion and I have lots of time.

Please note:
Their is no such thing as lettered drives.

Drives use numbers and partitions use letters.

Before you get started could you use this tutorial by Golden so we can see what your setup is. If it's not to late.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[ThrashZone]

Yea I've never had a reason to do this
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18630-product-key-number-change.html

Seems like it should work in this case ?