Installing windows 8.1

[Brinden]

So Ive ran into a problem while putting together my new pc. I have a new mobo, cpu, psu, ect. but i planned on using my old hdd with all my documents/games/pictures on it. i plan on installing my OS from a flash drive which is how ive done it before but im worried that by using my old hdd and installing the new os it will cause me to lose the data i have on my hdd. is there a way that i can avoid losing the data from my hdd and still be able to use it in the new pc?

 

[MarkW]

As long as the drive is already formatted using NTFS, you will not need to reformat the drive, which means your data will remain on the drive. What you will need to do though after Windows 8.1 is installed is to re-install all of your programs. Nearly every program Windows will run places information it needs into the Windows Registry, and that will be recreated when you install Windows 8.1. But your data will be safe. Just remember NOT to format the hard drive during the install.