I need to format my HDD after upgrading my mobo?

[DunyaKingdom]

My mobo died 1 week ago (Asus H81-Gamer) and I bought recently a new one (Gigabyte Z97X G1 Gaming 5). I'm wondering if there is something I can do about it to prevent loss of data, I mean... a possible solution to keep my HDD without being forced to format the whole disk. I have 3 partitions: Windows - Programs/Games - Movies. Can I format the windows partition and keep the remaining partitions? If so, how?

And no, I have no more hard drives (yet) but I'm planning on getting a SSD Samsung very soon.

 

[coozie7]

If you're just swapping the motherboard I'd just leave the HDD alone apart from uninstalling the previous motherboard drivers and installing the drivers for the new 'board, Windows will either automatically reactivate or you'll need to call Microsoft up to activate, depending on version and license.

Otherwise, with the drive partitioned as it is you could reinstall Windows onto the OS partition which should leave your data intact, but be aware any applications and games will probably need to be reinstalled and you'll almost certainly lose any game saves not held on the cloud or backed up to a flash (pen) drive.

 

[USAFRet]

No, you'll probably (99-1) need to reinstall the OS. And if everything is on that one drive in one partition....you're pretty much out of luck.

 

[USAFRet]

If the OS is in its own partition, then only that one will need to be accessed.
However, all your applications will need to be reinstalled.

 

[ShadyHamster]

The best thing you can do is plug the HD in and see if it boots into windows.

Best case scenario, it boots into windows, installs all the drivers and you will be good to go, depending on what version of windows you are running you may have to re-activate (possibly over the phone) or you will need a new key.

Worst case scenario, it blue screens at startup and you have to reinstall windows, if this happens you can plug the HD into another pc to access your files to back them up.

 

[DunyaKingdom]

Good News: Windows is working 100% with the new mobo, I just had to delete the old motherboard drivers.

Bad News: I lost my Windows 10 Pro license and my cdkey is not working with this new mobo... too much troubles.