[SOLVED] About previously installed applications and drivers

[iamktk]

I had an HDD for over a year and bought a M.2 NVMe SSD. I am planning to fresh install Windows 10 on the SSD. I need help regarding the following-

1. What would be the status of the OS that exists on my HDD?
2. Would I still be able to use the already installed applications on my HDD if I have the SSD as the boot drive?
3. How can I remove the existing OS from the HDD and free up that space?

 

[popatim]

1: still intact and should be bootable as long as you disconnect all the other drives when you install W10 to the new drive.
2: Usually not as they write info to the registry and the users hidden appdata folder.
3: Delete the windows folder but this does not remove the apps installed on that drive.
If you have nothing on the drive to save then just use disk management to remove the existing partitions , there should be at least 2, and then initialize the drive as one bigger one. Be sure you have moved or backed up anything important on the drive before you do this. For example games that use launcher apps (Steam, Epic,...) can often move their games or use them where they are by adding the location on the old drive to the library. Music, Documents, Photo's, Videos, can either be moved or have their location on the HDD added to the current libraries so they can be used right where they are. Game save exist in various locations as well and you might want those too at least for the ones not in the cloud.