New Motherboard Install Concerns

[CDDogg]

I have a new motherboard that I'm planning on swapping my current PC's CPU, GPU, PSU, RAM, and Hard drive to. I know because the current mobo and the new one are so different I will have to preform a clean install of my OS. I already have everything prepared with a bootable thumb drive that has the files and a new key. I also have a brand-new never used 1TB Hard drive I will be adding to the PC with the swap. I am concerned I'll lose all of my files and applications with a clean install, will that happen? If it would happen how can I keep all of my files. Even though I am installing the EXACT same OS on the new board as the PC currently has will my applications work?

 

[USAFRet]

Applications? No. Your new OS will not know anything about them.

Files that live on a different drive are fine.
Applications, no.

 

[CDDogg]

Applications? No. Your new OS will not know anything about them.

Files that live on a different drive are fine.
Applications, no.

I have so much software that I don't want to have to get again. It's the exact same OS are you sure it won't work? Is there anyway to keep the application files on the drive even if the programs might not work?

 

[USAFRet]

Applications? No. Your new OS will not know anything about them.

Files that live on a different drive are fine.
Applications, no.

I have so much software that I don't want to have to get again. It's the exact same OS are you sure it won't work? Is there anyway to keep the application files on the drive even if the programs might not work?

What do you mean by 'application files'?
That, to my mind, is the 'programs'.

Stuff like docs you create...those are fine. mp3, avi...all that stuff is fine.
An application you run? That will need to be reinstalled.

 

[CDDogg]

Applications? No. Your new OS will not know anything about them.

Files that live on a different drive are fine.
Applications, no.

I have so much software that I don't want to have to get again. It's the exact same OS are you sure it won't work? Is there anyway to keep the application files on the drive even if the programs might not work?

What do you mean by 'application files'?
That, to my mind, is the 'programs'.

Stuff like docs you create...those are fine. mp3, avi...all that stuff is fine.
An application you run? That will need to be reinstalled.

yes I do mean programs. but technically speaking why would they need to be re-installed? Say I installed the new board and did a clean install on the new 1TB drive and made it my boot-drive. Then plugged the old hard-drive in later. It would have all the DLL's and exes for that OS and that CPU why wouldn't they work?

 

[USAFRet]

Because everything is in a different location. What used to be your C drive is now the D or E drive.

When an application is installed, it makes many, many writes to different locations. In the case of the larger applications, sometimes thousands of entries.
In the Registry, /User/, AppData....

Your new OS knows nothing about those.

 

[CDDogg]

Because everything is in a different location. What used to be your C drive is now the D or E drive.

When an application is installed, it makes many, many writes to different locations. In the case of the larger applications, sometimes thousands of entries.
In the Registry, /User/, AppData....

Your new OS knows nothing about those.

I suppose you are correct, As long as it keeps my documents and other files I can make it work. Would the set-up exes for said programs still work? Would .ZIP files save? I have 300GB plan of data per month with my current Internet Provider so if I could avoid downloading everything again that'd be great.

 

[USAFRet]

Because everything is in a different location. What used to be your C drive is now the D or E drive.

When an application is installed, it makes many, many writes to different locations. In the case of the larger applications, sometimes thousands of entries.
In the Registry, /User/, AppData....

Your new OS knows nothing about those.

I suppose you are correct, As long as it keeps my documents and other files I can make it work. Would the set-up exes for said programs still work? Would .ZIP files save? I have 300GB plan of data per month with my current Internet Provider so if I could avoid downloading everything again that'd be great.

Yes, the setup.exe and Zip files will work just fine!
Having those is a crucial part of an OS reinstall or backup plan.