New build, old HDD

[modeldragonator]

Okay guys, I plan on rebuilding my rig from the ground up... except for the HDD. Therein lies the problem, as I do not have a portable hard drive large enough to store all of my data in order to reformat my hard drive. So, my question for you is, can I circumvent wiping my hard drive or will i just need to redownload all my games individually? All this would really be is a major (1TB) inconvenience, since this is a gaming pc and i dont have any other important documents aside from my save files.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, modeldragonator.

I know that downloading and reinstalling each game would be a drag, but I'd recommend that you backup the Save Game files, wipe the drive and start fresh.
On the other hand if the drive has separate partitions for the OS and the games (e.g. C: drive for the OS and program files and D: drive for the games), then you could try formatting just the OS partition while installing Windows and continue with the installation process. Note that this might create some conflicts with the already installed games afterwards. Many games have folders in the User Folder in C: drive, containing saved game data, settings files etc. Also you might have some trouble with the system partition having in mind your old OS was set for completely different hardware.

So, you could go both ways, but my recommendation is that you backup everything you'd need and wipe the drive clean, before you install the new OS.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD