I'm reinstalling windows and want to keep some programs

[Bill2002]

Okay, so I just got a new PC, and I'm going to re-use some parts from my old one, including the hard drive. I'm not getting a new drive, and i have some important programs that I don't think I'll be able to find again. I'm transferring from an old i5 to an 8350, which is Intel to AMD and I'm going to probably have to reinstall windows to use the same drive. Is there a way around this? Because some of my files are irreplaceable and I actually need this week. Anybody know?
I sort of need a way to do this relatively quick, because I've got other things to do. Anyways, thank you all,
-Bill

 

[USAFRet]

No, there is no way around it. You can't keep 'some'.

Just moving the drive might work (I give it <10%), but don't count on it.

 

[mcnumpty23]

you will be lucky if it works but remove all the intel chipset drivers etc and hope it boots up with your new AMD hardware and doesnt bluescreen

will probably need a call to microsoft as well to reactivate windows

 

[geofelt]

Unless your old programs do not have registry entries you are screwed.
A new clean install will build a new registry so your old programs will not run.
I suggest you load the os on a SSD and preserve your old hard drive to attach later.
Your files will be available, but your apps will not.
Your old windows will not be able to boot because it will lack the needed amd drivers.

In the past, I have successfully booted from an old i5 to a newer intel cpu, but never from intl to amd or vice versa.

Here is a procedure I found that might help, but I have not tried it.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

 

[Bill2002]

Believe it or not I actually ended up just plugging the old untouched SSD into the AMD machine, and it worked great. Just to be clear I went from an i5 750 to an 8350 with ZERO errors. My old video card was an old dusty 6670 as well. I switched companies with both cpu and gpu and Windows loaded fine. That's great, but I can't find anybody else who got this to work as well! Anyway, thanks for the answers but I did figure it out.

 

[USAFRet]

Believe it or not I actually ended up just plugging the old untouched SSD into the AMD machine, and it worked great. Just to be clear I went from an i5 750 to an 8350 with ZERO errors. My old video card was an old dusty 6670 as well. I switched companies with both cpu and gpu and Windows loaded fine. That's great, but I can't find anybody else who got this to work as well! Anyway, thanks for the answers but I did figure it out.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it does, but issues crop up later.
I have 2 very similar Compaq laptops where it doesn't work at all.

 

[geofelt]

Believe it or not I actually ended up just plugging the old untouched SSD into the AMD machine, and it worked great. Just to be clear I went from an i5 750 to an 8350 with ZERO errors. My old video card was an old dusty 6670 as well. I switched companies with both cpu and gpu and Windows loaded fine. That's great, but I can't find anybody else who got this to work as well! Anyway, thanks for the answers but I did figure it out.

What OS were you using?
I suspect windows 8 might be better than 7 for such swaps.