Backup or Image without drivers

[dkulprit]

Not sure if this should go here, but it is a storage question at the root of my question.

I am switching motherboards. Going from a ASrock 970 to a Crosshair V formula Z. From what I have been reading here on Tom's and other places, the best thing to do is a fresh install of the OS to make sure the transfer is as smooth as possible.

I would like to be able to create a back up or image of my computer without the drivers, so when I swap motherboards all I have to do is reimage or restore once I have done the swap instead of having to start from scratch on everything.

 

[USAFRet]

Not entirely sure what you're trying to do here.

Fresh install (recommended), or restore from a previously made image.

 

[aatje92]

You cant make a full system backup without drivers, those are implemented in windows.

 

[dkulprit]

Not entirely sure what you're trying to do here.

Fresh install (recommended), or restore from a previously made image.

A little more in depth:

Current system is operating just fine. I just want to upgrade a to a nicer motherboard that can last me a while longer with more options for tweaking. As I was doing research I found that for the smoothest transition, you should do a fresh install of the operating system so the old motherboard drivers don't interfere with the newer motherboard.

I am wondering if it is possible to create an image of my current system (games, movies, music, etc) without my current motherboard drivers so that I can just drop the image onto the machine after swapping motherboards so I don't have to re-install all my applications. I do not have the fastest internet at the moment. My current setup is:

60gb SSD for OS
120gb SSD for games currently playing
3tb HDD for whatever else I have, like the digital copies of movies, or games I do not play as much but I keep on system after I transfer them from 120gb SSD.
2tb hdd that I haven't even touched

All this in a jbod.

When i originally built this computer I am pretty sure I screwed up and had my 120gb ssd plugged in during the install so an OS partition was created along on it also. (I can confirm that when I get home).

So my options right now are to either transfer all my applications and other items to the 3tb and 2tb drives, wipe the 2 ssd's, and do a fresh install with the new motherboard.

Or (what I am hoping to do)

Create an image of my current system sans current mobo drivers, swap motherboard, do fresh install from image, and then update drivers for current motherboard.

Thank you for your help.

 

[USAFRet]

Or (what I am hoping to do)

Create an image of my current system sans current mobo drivers, swap motherboard, do fresh install from image, and then update drivers for current motherboard.

Nope. You can't remove the motherboard drivers, and still have it run.

Take a glass of water. Add a drop of red food coloring. Now take that food coloring out of the glass.
Glass of water = preinstallation. Red dye = drivers.
They are an integral part of the system.

And what you're doing is not a fresh install, but rather restoring from a previously made image. A fresh install would be from a Windows DVD or USB.

And...depending on exactly what Windows you have, you might need a newly purchased install. If yours is Win7 OEM, activation will not survive the motherboard swap.

 

[dkulprit]

I have a retail copy of 8. Plus I have a ton of VLK's.

*EDIT* forgot the word "have."