Question Easiest way to get data off an old M.2 NVMe SSD to put into a new PC ?

[Tommy Sawyer]

I had a motherboard crash on my son's old Cyberpower PC ... and he bought a new system yesterday. The new system is an MSI - Aegis Z2 Gaming Desktop - AMD R7-7700 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super - 1TB SSD, and the motherboard is MSI PRO B650-VC WiFi.

I took the old D: drive 2.5 SATA III (extra storage) out and put it in the new system. it works fine.
He is trying to play Steam games on the new system and the backup data is on the D: for steam, but it won't access each game in steam, because I believe the basic game data is on his old
C: drive the M.2 NVME. the old operating system is on that drive also.

What is the easiest way to get that data off the drive (in the program data)?
1. a M.2 NVME reader? making sure to buy the right onw.
2. insert that old NVME into the new system... but worried about if it would maybe boot and how it would be recognized?

Thoughts?

 

[PrivilegeYT]

Get an external reader truth is its pretty hard to go wrong just read your amazon reviews and make sure it's a prime item. Or... Just have your son redownload the steam games as they should be backed up via steam cloud anyways .

 

[thestryker]

if there are multiple M.2 slots on the motherboard you can definitely just put it in and ensure the BIOS boots off the right drive. Personally speaking I got a USB to M.2 adapter as that can be used for anything.

 

[stonecarver]

He is trying to play Steam games on the new system and the backup data is on the D: for steam, but it won't access each game in steam, because I believe the basic game data is on his old

Great advice already given how to get your son's info off old drive.

I tuned in to his steam issue. When you said steams backups or did you mean his games installs on his "D" drive ?

If there his game installs after he on his new system reinstalled Steam, he can point his freshly installed Steam to add folders from his "D" drive where previous games were used on old system.

Steam will process the old folder and make it so he can play games as usual .

On Steam on the left click----Steam----Settings----Storage ---- under the pull down tab click ---- add drive ---- and point it to his old drive with his games.

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

Great advice already given how to get your son's info off old drive.

I tuned in to his steam issue. When you said steams backups or did you mean his games installs on his "D" drive ?

If there his game installs after he on his new system reinstalled Steam, he can point his freshly installed Steam to add folders from his "D" drive where previous games were used on old system.

Steam will process the old folder and make it so he can play games as usual .

On Steam on the left click----Steam----Settings----Storage ---- under the pull down tab click ---- add drive ---- and point it to his old drive with his games.

He said, when he tried,,,, This game was installed on a drive that is not connected. Is it possible to have some of the gaming data on c? Like load up
(Edit)
He said he clicked on the d storage drive and he can bring up the game like that but it doesn't sync up with steam should he re-download the game? Or could it possibly erase everything?

 

[dos_box]

Actually it's a bad idea to use an old Windows-Installation on a new system. With a new computer, best you can do is reinstall everything. That is for correct registries and drivers belonging to the correct hardware, etc.

Steam usually saves all your game-info and saves online. So reinstalling the games (redownloading) should bring him back where he last left it.

 

[Moonstick2]

He said, when he tried,,,, This game was installed on a drive that is not connected. Is it possible to have some of the gaming data on c? Like load up

As he actually gone through Settings to point Steam at the drive and folder containing his games?

One possibility is that the drive letter for that disk isn't the same in the new PC as in the old. Regardless, making sure Steam is pointed at the correct drive by going into Settings and selecting that storage is the first step, even if it 'looks' right.

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

As he actually gone through Settings to point Steam at the drive and folder containing his games?

One possibility is that the drive letter for that disk isn't the same in the new PC as in the old. Regardless, making sure Steam is pointed at the correct drive by going into Settings and selecting that storage is the first step, even if it 'looks' right.

That's an excellent point on the drive letter... it has changed. It was z: on old system. now it's d:
I have a question ⁉️
If I take old M.2 NMVE (c: drive) from old system and I plug into new drive space on new computer, will that boot up okay and not use old system windows? Should I go into boot manager (F12) to make sure I'm selecting my real c: for boot? I just need some files off old M.2.

 

[stonecarver]

You could just use ----Disk Manager---- Over there on your start menu and go to his old drive and change its drive letter to "Z"

DON'T FORMAT the drive just choose a new drive letter where it now says " D" and make it into "Z"

Restart computer and see if Steam now works with his old game installs.

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

Haha, worked right away. Thanks.

You could just use ----Disk Manager---- Over there on your start menu and go to his old drive and change its drive letter to "Z"

DON'T FORMAT the drive just choose a new drive letter where it now says " D" and make it into "Z"

Restart computer and see if Steam now works with his old game installs.

Haha! Wow, it worked right away. Thanks. 👍

 

[Moonstick2]

Glad it did turn out to be just the drive letter.

If I take old M.2 NMVE (c: drive) from old system and I plug into new drive space on new computer, will that boot up okay and not use old system windows? Should I go into boot manager (F12) to make sure I'm selecting my real c: for boot? I just need some files off old M.2.

Yes, after installing the old drive you should go through boot manager to make sure it boots from the correct current drive and not the old one. If you just need some files from it you can lift then from there* then shut down and remove the drive. Or you might want to take the opportunity to fully reformat the old M.2 drive while its in there. Any reason not to use it for extra storage?

(*Really you should have a backup system in place so you're not in the position of needing to install old C: drives to get at the data, otherwise your data is at genuine risk of catastrophic loss. Hopefully these are non-vital files you want and all your important stuff is backed up...?)

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

Glad it did turn out to be just the drive letter.

Yes, after installing the old drive you should go through boot manager to make sure it boots from the correct current drive and not the old one. If you just need some files from it you can lift then from there* then shut down and remove the drive. Or you might want to take the opportunity to fully reformat the old M.2 drive while its in there. Any reason not to use it for extra storage?

(*Really you should have a backup system in place so you're not in the position of needing to install old C: drives to get at the data, otherwise your data is at genuine risk of catastrophic loss. Hopefully these are non-vital files you want and all your important stuff is backed up...?)

I will take the old M.2 and put it back into the old PC after I replace motherboard on it. I guess it will become a secondary PC ... I mean it's still good... can be like a project. it has a RTX 3060 in it.
I do backups, but it was macrium image, and I since it was done on the old PC, I didn't think it was helpful transferring to his new PC. And since that image was windows 10,,, and I recently upgraded to 11, I never imaged after that... it went down the next day.
Thanks again.