Question Will I keep my downloads if i change my motherboard ?

[computer123456789101112]

i want to change my motherboard but I am worried I might lose all my data like the games I have download, so if i change out my motherboard will it get rid of my downloads ?

 

[Mandark]

Motherboard changes need clean install of windows so yes you will need to reinstall your games. Back up all of your personal data first.

 

[CountMike]

i want to change my motheboard but i am wored i might lose all my data lik emy games i have download so if i chage out my mother board will it get rid of my downloads

No, not unless you reinstall Windows which most probably would not be needed if only MB is involved,

 

[Mandark]

Lol. For your information windows is not modular and changing a motherboard absolutely requires an clean install of windows!

Windows is not modular. All that happens is that it tries to put the correct drivers in but you still have references to all the old drivers for hardware that doesn’t exist and that causes problems down the line guaranteed. You will run into a problem you won’t be able to fix.

 

[USAFRet]

i want to change my motheboard but i am wored i might lose all my data lik emy games i have download so if i chage out my mother board will it get rid of my downloads

First off, why are you changing the motherboard?

Second, with a bit of thought and prep work, you can save quite a lot of your 'data', even with a fresh OS install.

 

[geofelt]

Why do you want to change motherboards?
What is the make/model of the old and the new?

Are your games steam games?
If so, there is a procedure to move and preserve your games.

 

[CountMike]

Lol. For your information windows is not modular and changing a motherboard absolutely requires an clean install of windows!

Windows is not modular. All that happens is that it tries to put the correct drivers in but you still have references to all the old drivers for hardware that doesn’t exist and that causes problems down the line guaranteed. You will run into a problem you won’t be able to fix.

Molecularity has nothing to do with it. Widows (8 and up) contain at least elementary drivers for all modern MBs and parts to say nothing about P&P that most are. otherwise windows wouldn't even install.
For your information I'm on my 3rd MB with same previously W10 installation upgraded to W11 but have also done some windows grafts even I didn't believe would work. W10 installed on my Ryzen system on a HDD taken to an ancient 2 core Intel and it booted right away. Just had to make sure CSM was turned on in BIOS as that old Intel didn't support UEFI or GPT. That wasn't a fluke as it was repeated several times.
In OP's case, he is changing only MB which for compatibility reason likely has same or full compatible chipset which is a minimum for it to work. Drivers if needed can be updated later on or will automatically update when internet connection is available.
Important thing to do is to set BIOS on new MB to same configuration as when windows were installed. Ie. CSM/UEFI and MBR/GPT disk.

 

[Mandark]

Molecularity has nothing to do with it. Widows (8 and up) contain at least elementary drivers for all modern MBs and parts to say nothing about P&P that most are. otherwise windows wouldn't even install.
For your information I'm on my 3rd MB with same previously W10 installation upgraded to W11 but have also done some windows grafts even I didn't believe would work. W10 installed on my Ryzen system on a HDD taken to an ancient 2 core Intel and it booted right away. Just had to make sure CSM was turned on in BIOS as that old Intel didn't support UEFI or GPT. That wasn't a fluke as it was repeated several times.
In OP's case, he is changing only MB which for compatibility reason likely has same or full compatible chipset which is a minimum for it to work. Drivers if needed can be updated later on or will automatically update when internet connection is available.
Important thing to do is to set BIOS on new MB to same configuration as when windows were installed. Ie. CSM/UEFI and MBR/GPT disk.

That was a big fat assumption on your part. He didn’t say anything about common chipsets, and in this case, a full reinstall will be necessary. Do you know what they say about making assumptions right? I’m never going to agree with you on the subject anyway because I have been through the experience too many times to know that it doesn’t work reliably and that what you’re saying isn’t true, because it’s not observed in the real world. You just got lucky is all having a motherboard with the exact same chipset

my solution will work 100% of the time yours won’t case closed. I’m not going to throw out half baked solutions to someone who is lazy and doesn’t want to reinstall their games. I have no sympathy for that kind of user. back your stuff up like normal people so that when you need to upgrade or recover from disaster you can.

A full blown windows install only takes about 8 to 10 minutes. Everyone whining and crying about reinstalling can just stop and become an adult and do it.

and then the time it takes you to record all your settings from one CMOS, and set the other one up you could’ve installed windows. With your solution tons of garbage is left in the registry and tons of DLLs and other software is left around on disk. with . my solution the user gets a nice clean image of windows and everything works unless the motherboard is broken.

and all you have to do is look back at all the thousands and thousands of posts on this board about people who upgraded their motherboard and didn’t reinstall windows and now something doesn’t work and they can’t fix it. This is what I seek to avoid from the first time, I give advice, so the user doesn’t have to keep coming back with mysterious problems

my advice to anyone wanting to skip doing it the right way is don’t. don’t take shortcuts. Laziness doesn’t pay off.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

i want to change my motherboard but I am worried I might lose all my data like the games I have download, so if i change out my motherboard will it get rid of my downloads ?

If your downloads (and any other data) are important you should already have them backed up elsewhere.

 

[Tac 25]

speaking from experience on this. When one of my mobo died, the HDD of that pc was transferred to another case. I think this counts as "changing motherboard". Was using Windows 7 at that time. So basically, plugged the HDD in to the other mobo, which thankfully recognized the transferred HDD as a secondary HDD.. and no data was lost. But many games and some other programs needed to be reinstalled from backups stored in flash drives.

 

[Mandark]

Sample size of one. Means nothing. Swapping motherboards without an install carries with it a high probability of some kind of error in the system and it may be buried deep and you may not notice it at first, but let me tell you it was there.

My own brother stopped doing it because he figured out after a long time of trying when he’s building PCs that it doesn’t work reliably, so why waste your time? Cutting corners waste more time than doing a job properly. And if you’re willing to screw yourself in your personal dealings then I’d hate to find out what you’re like at work. You should have one work ethic to do the best job possible at all times. Would you do this on the job at work when you’re building a PC and then wonder is it going to come back with problems? Or would you do it the right way and not worry about it?

from your own account it sounds like you didn’t save any time whatsoever because you had to reinstall your games which is 99.9% of this data consumed on a persons gaming computer.

 

[USAFRet]

@CountMike , @Mandark ...

I know you guys have read this before, but..

1. It works
2. It fails
3. It sort of works.

I've personally had all 3.
There is no "100% it always works."

@computer123456789101112
Try it if you want, but prepare for total fail.

And if you're at risk of losing all your data due to replacing the motherboard...you need to get a handle on that aspect first.
Before changing any parts.

 

[Tac 25]

@Mandark

huh? why so confrontational. Had a bad day? Cheer up, Christmas is in the air

anyway, the OP never described the full situation. So my situation might be different from his. The HDD of my mobo that died during 2014 was transferred to a pc with a stable OS already placed there. Basically, what I did was just adding another HDD to that pc. It's still fine today, and I'm actually using the pc to make this post. I probably had the luck of a cat with 9 lives, lol

anyway, 2019 I added an SSD to the pc and this is what it looks like now.

 

[Mandark]

From building many many PCs in my career, I’ve had situation number two and number three the most occurring. So, from my own statistics is where my opinions coming from.

trust me, I used to do the same thing and recommend it but no longer because it’s prove to me to be a time waster. Especially if I have to support it after the fact.

 

[USAFRet]

@Mandark

huh? why so confrontational. Had a bad day? Cheer up, Christmas is in the air

anyway, the OP never described the full situation. So my situation might be different from his. The HDD of my mobo that died during 2014 was transferred to a pc with a stable OS already placed there. Basically, what I did was just adding a new HDD to that pc. It's still fine today, and I'm actually using the pc to make this post. I probably had the luck of a cat with 9 lives, lol

anyway, 2019 I added an SSD to the pc and this is what it looks like now.

Adding it as a secondary drive is different than swapping motherboards and expecting the C drive to simply boot up.

 

[Tac 25]

oh, I see now. So that's what the OP was asking.

I misunderstood the first post. Sorry about that.

 

[Mandark]

@Mandark

huh? why so confrontational. Had a bad day? Cheer up, Christmas is in the air

anyway, the OP never described the full situation. So my situation might be different from his. The HDD of my mobo that died during 2014 was transferred to a pc with a stable OS already placed there. Basically, what I did was just adding another HDD to that pc. It's still fine today, and I'm actually using the pc to make this post. I probably had the luck of a cat with 9 lives, lol

anyway, 2019 I added an SSD to the pc and this is what it looks like now.

Sorry mate. I just don’t want to send some poor soul down a wormhole.

 

[CountMike]

If I understood correctly OP wants to change MB to same type maybe even model not whole platform and that's not a problem for windows. and eh backup shhould have anyway or can copy thing he's most concerned about, downloads.

 

[USAFRet]

If I understood correctly OP wants to change MB to same type maybe even model not whole platform and that's not a problem for windows. and eh backup shhould have anyway or can copy thing he's most concerned about, downloads.

We have no information of whether it is an identical, or similar, motherboard. Or something completely different.
Nor why.

 

[CountMike]

We have no information of whether it is an identical, or similar, motherboard. Or something completely different.
Nor why.

Don't you just hate it when OP drops a question and doesn't show up after that ?
Should have solved it by one one way or other, thread should be closed.