I know this must be obvious

[dtrumpballzdeep]

Mkay, so I built my first pc last year (an fx-8350 build) and I decided that I'm not satisfied with its' performance. Since I'm no longer a babe in the woods, I'm looking at the new coffee lake processers and I'm planning a new build around that. Now, I'm going to reset and gift my ssd to a friend and I'm planning on investing in an m.2 SSD. So, my question is; since my OS in not on my 2TB HDD, can I just plug it in to the new computer after I build it? Or do I need to configure it for the transfer? I COULD just wipe it, however I would love to avoid that if possible.

 

[vapour]

Nope, change MB -> fresh clean reinstall OS. You don't need to wipe it, just don't boot with the HDD which has old OS on it. You can reuse the old HDD in new pc.

 

[bjornl]

Nope, change MB -> fresh clean reinstall OS. You don't need to wipe it, just don't boot with the HDD which has old OS on it. You can reuse the old HDD in new pc.

Almost. New motherboard does not always mean you need a new install. But it does in this case. Going from an 8350 to a coffeelake is more than just a motherboard swap. You must re-install on the new system. Backup up your saved games, word files, photos, and such.

 

[vapour]

Nope, change MB -> fresh clean reinstall OS. You don't need to wipe it, just don't boot with the HDD which has old OS on it. You can reuse the old HDD in new pc.

Almost. New motherboard does not always mean you need a new install. But it does in this case. Going from an 8350 to a coffeelake is more than just a motherboard swap. You must re-install on the new system. Backup up your saved games, word files, photos, and such.

Yes, someone can do reset but does not guarantee 100% issue-free. Clean install is highly recommended.

 

[bjornl]

Nope, change MB -> fresh clean reinstall OS. You don't need to wipe it, just don't boot with the HDD which has old OS on it. You can reuse the old HDD in new pc.

Almost. New motherboard does not always mean you need a new install. But it does in this case. Going from an 8350 to a coffeelake is more than just a motherboard swap. You must re-install on the new system. Backup up your saved games, word files, photos, and such.

Yes, someone can do reset but does not guarantee 100% issue-free. Clean install is highly recommended.

Depends on the chipset and so on.... but repeat the above just so as to not confuse the OP. Going from the 8350 to coffeelake = must reinstall.

 

[ss202sl]

I think the question is different then any of the previous answers.
There is currently a SSD with the OS on it. He will wipe it and give it away, The HDD has no OS on it.

Then he builds new PC, adds a M.2 ssd, and installs the OS onto the new ssd.

The question is.... can he add the HDD(with the data on it) without wiping it.

The answer is yes, but your data will be the only thing that will be useful on it. Any applications that are on it will need to be re-installed because the OS knows nothing about them.