[SOLVED] Setting up new Win 10 computer

[Badger51]

I'm setting up a new computer, with Windows 10.

My prior setup had my program files and data on a separate hard drive, as D: and E: Drives.

Is it possible to install the old hard drive on the new computer and tell Windows to find the program files on D:?

Thanks

 

[rgd1101]

most likely need to reinstall.

 

[ciAnsKYU]

I am not sure if you can do that. You'll probably have to reinstall.

 

[Colif]

I'm setting up a new computer, with Windows 10.

My prior setup had my program files and data on a separate hard drive, as D: and E: Drives.

Is it possible to install the old hard drive on the new computer and tell Windows to find the program files on D:?

Thanks

It depends really, if the applications are steam game libraries, you can reuse those on new installs without need for downloading them again. Same goes for Origin I believe.
If they are normal applications, then yes, they need to be reinstalled as registry won't see them otherwise.

You can likely reuse the data though.

 

[Badger51]

Thanks, a bit of followup...

You are correct that the OS does not recognize the old programs...but ran into a different problem.

I took the HD that was installed in my old setup as Drive D: and E:, for programs and data.

When I attached it as an external drive, the OS only recognized it as a dynamic disk, rather than basic disk, so it showed up as inactive and inaccessible.

Raised some doubt as to my long term strategy of keeping data and OS on separate drives...

Does that still make sense...

Once I installed the old HD as a second internal HD on the new machine, everything was fine, with respect to data.

 

[Colif]

When I attached it as an external drive, the OS only recognized it as a dynamic disk, rather than basic disk, so it showed up as inactive and inaccessible.

did you use a caddy to attach them? It might have been that which made PC think it was something else?

I refuse to not have 2 drives in my PC but that goes back to the days before cloud servers when having a 2nd drive just makes recovering from windows disasters easier. Just blow away 1 drive and keep everything for next install.

 

[Badger51]

did you use a caddy to attach them? It might have been that which made PC think it was something else?

I refuse to not have 2 drives in my PC but that goes back to the days before cloud servers when having a 2nd drive just makes recovering from windows disasters easier. Just blow away 1 drive and keep everything for next install.

Yes, originally, I installed the drive into an external drive caddy...

I think it still makes sense to keep my data on a separate drive, but does it make any sense to load programs on a non C: Drive?

Even though the new machine is recognizing my data, I've had to reinstall all my programs manually.

thanks in advance

 

[Colif]

I think it still makes sense to keep my data on a separate drive, but does it make any sense to load programs on a non C: Drive?

No, not really. It depends what they are. A lot of games launchers let you reuse games on new installs but vast majority of programs would need to be reinstalled with windows. What I do is put anything that needs to be reinstalled again with windows on C and anything else can go on hdd. My new PC is set up that way and I am not really putting anything on hdd yet (but its only a few days old). just games that don't need to be on the nvme

For a long time, hdd was the only way to keep files between installs. Now I use cloud services, I didn't have to physically copy anything between the pc's. Now I have fast enough internet I can download anything again. I don't feel so fragile.