Question taking hard drives out of current build and adding them to new build

[jplvr86]

I am wondering if it is possible to take my hard drives out of my current build and use them in a new pc. my goal is to not have to download all my games from steam epic store ect. and just use my existing hard drives. I know I should do a clean install of windows because of new mobo and processor and such but living out in the country with data capped internet the less I have to download from the net the better. Thanks again for your time and appreciate all the help I can get.

 

[Lutfij]

You're going to have to reinstall the OS regardless when you migrate to a new platform, because of drivers for the new platform. Then there's the hair pulling that comes with people who tend to clone their OS drives and then ask what went wrong when the system wont boot with cloned OS drive. You're also going to have to reinstall your games once you reinstall the OS.

 

[jplvr86]

I figured I would have to download and install windows again and that is fine. windows is currently on a small ssd right now so I would just buy a new ssd for this but other than that and driver downloads I really want to avoid downloading games because of my capped internet connection.

 

[USAFRet]

I figured I would have to download and install windows again and that is fine. windows is currently on a small ssd right now so I would just buy a new ssd for this but other than that and driver downloads I really want to avoid downloading games because of my capped internet connection.

All your drivers need to be reinstalled. Along with all your applications.

Steam games can almost certainly be worked around with what you have, no new downloading needed.

 

[RayOfDark]

The Steam games will be fine. Just add their installation folder location to Steam when you reinstall it and it'll pick them up again straight away. I think the same should apply to games installed via the Epic interface but can't guarantee it.

Note: You will probably lose any game saves that aren't stored in the cloud.

 

[jplvr86]

so after I physically install my old drives into my new build what would be the steps to take after the power button is turned on? I have only built one computer which is my current pc and do not really have much experience swapping things from a software/program standpoint... if that makes any sense.

 

[USAFRet]

so after I physically install my old drives into my new build what would be the steps to take after the power button is turned on? I have only built one computer which is my current pc and do not really have much experience swapping things from a software/program standpoint... if that makes any sense.

Given a new SSD with a new OS on it, and old drive(s) with old OS and applications + games on it..
Idealoly, you copy anything from that old drive to some other location.
Then, you wipe that old drive completely. All partitions.
THen, you can copy the stuff back.

Steam games, for instance...you find the Steamapps folder on the old drive.
Copy that entire thing to some other physical drive.
Wipe the old drive
Copy that SteamApps folder back to the one you just wiped. You can copy it to any folder you like.
Then, in the new Steam client with your new OS, add that location.

Thusly:
Steam games location
In the steam client:
Steam
Settings
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add library folder

 

[jplvr86]

ok yah I see now... Thank you for the help on this subject Really appreciate this