Is there any HDD prep needed before I transfer it into a new build?

[Jhooper94]

I have a 1TB HDD from my store bought PC and I'm going to use it in my new build. Im going to use a 120GB SSB as my boot drive so do I need any prep to move my HDD? I assume all of my files like pictures and stuff will be okay, but I was told that my applications wont be recognized, so should I uninstall of that stuff before I move it? I just want to keep what I need and free as much space as possible.

 

[USAFRet]

I have a 1TB HDD from my store bought PC and I'm going to use it in my new build. Im going to use a 120GB SSB as my boot drive so do I need any prep to move my HDD? I assume all of my files like pictures and stuff will be okay, but I was told that my applications wont be recognized, so should I uninstall of that stuff before I move it? I just want to keep what I need and free as much space as possible.

Assuming the 1TB is the current Windows drive, and your pics/doc/etc are in the Libraries subfolders:

I would create a series of other folders, completely outside Users or Libraries.
MyStuff as the top level, then MyDocs, MyPics, etc as subfolders.

While logged as your normal User, copy all the files to the relevant new folder. Not the top level Documents folder, but the files and any subfolders.

Why? Documents/Pictures/etc is part of that User. Once that drive goes into the new PC, that 'User' NTFS permissions no longer exist.
If you try to open one of those original folders (User/UserName/Documents) you will see "Access is Denied"
You can go through the steps to Take Ownership, but that little bit of earlier prep negates the need to do that.

 

[Jhooper94]

I have a 1TB HDD from my store bought PC and I'm going to use it in my new build. Im going to use a 120GB SSB as my boot drive so do I need any prep to move my HDD? I assume all of my files like pictures and stuff will be okay, but I was told that my applications wont be recognized, so should I uninstall of that stuff before I move it? I just want to keep what I need and free as much space as possible.

Assuming the 1TB is the current Windows drive, and your pics/doc/etc are in the Libraries subfolders:

I would create a series of other folders, completely outside Users or Libraries.
MyStuff as the top level, then MyDocs, MyPics, etc as subfolders.

While logged as your normal User, copy all the files to the relevant new folder. Not the top level Documents folder, but the files and any subfolders.

Why? Documents/Pictures/etc is part of that User. Once that drive goes into the new PC, that 'User' NTFS permissions no longer exist.
If you try to open one of those original folders (User/UserName/Documents) you will see "Access is Denied"
You can go through the steps to Take Ownership, but that little bit of earlier prep negates the need to do that.

Okay will do. And should I delete all of my applications?

 

[USAFRet]

I have a 1TB HDD from my store bought PC and I'm going to use it in my new build. Im going to use a 120GB SSB as my boot drive so do I need any prep to move my HDD? I assume all of my files like pictures and stuff will be okay, but I was told that my applications wont be recognized, so should I uninstall of that stuff before I move it? I just want to keep what I need and free as much space as possible.

Assuming the 1TB is the current Windows drive, and your pics/doc/etc are in the Libraries subfolders:

I would create a series of other folders, completely outside Users or Libraries.
MyStuff as the top level, then MyDocs, MyPics, etc as subfolders.

While logged as your normal User, copy all the files to the relevant new folder. Not the top level Documents folder, but the files and any subfolders.

Why? Documents/Pictures/etc is part of that User. Once that drive goes into the new PC, that 'User' NTFS permissions no longer exist.
If you try to open one of those original folders (User/UserName/Documents) you will see "Access is Denied"
You can go through the steps to Take Ownership, but that little bit of earlier prep negates the need to do that.

Okay will do. And should I delete all of my applications?

Ideally, you should copy anything critical to another drive and wipe that 1TB completely. Then copy stuff back as needed.
Start with a clean slate.

But yes...those old applications would just be taking up space.