Do I have to format my hard drive once I get my new mother board ram and processor?

How can I ... save all of the files I got on it if I have to?

Transfer all of your documents/music/videos/etc. to an external HDD or something similar.

As far as having to reformat... it all depends. I've been able to do it successfully a few times by just popping the drive in an entirely new system, and letting Windows 7 get everything sorted. If that doesn't work, you can do a sysprep with the OOBE option (if you're on Win7 or Win8).

What version of Windows do you currently have installed, and what hardware are you going from / going to?
 
A "Clean Install" would be my choice, which would be a format of the hard drive
I think if both boards have the same chipset ie: a board with a Z77 to a board with a Z77 chipset then chances are much better it will boot up into windows for you.


This applies to windows XP but there's probably something of this in Vista, Windows 7 and 8 that uses activation


The WPA system checks ten categories of hardware:

1. Display Adapter
2.SCSI Adapter
3.IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
4.Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
5. RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
6.Processor Type
7.Processor Serial Number
8.Hard Drive Device
9.Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
10.CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM

If your hardware is substantially the same, this will be done by an automated call without your needing to talk to anyone.

What does ‘substantially the same' mean? WPA asks for ‘votes' from each of these ten categories: ‘Is the same device still around, or has there never been one?' Seven Yes votes means all is well — and a NIC, present originally and not changed, counts for three yes votes! Minor cards, like sound cards, don't come into the mix at all. If you keep the motherboard, with the same amount of RAM and processor, and an always present cheap NIC (available for $10 or less), you can change everything else as much as you like.

If you change the device in any category, you have lost that Yes vote — but will not lose it any more thereafter if you make changes in that category again. So, for example, you can install a new video display card every month for as long as you like.

More here:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm
 
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In XP you have to to a repair install; the others you either don't have to do anything, have to do a clean install, or can try an in-place upgrade.
 
I've seen on some rare instances with XP, that windows will boot up with another board and the boards both had the same chipset. I haven't tried switching boards with Vista/W7 so I do not know how that outcome would be....

are you stating Vista/W7 will still boot up with different boards with out a bsod? and running an in place upgrade?
 
I've seen on some rare instances with XP, that windows will boot up with another board and the boards both had the same chipset. I haven't tried switching boards with Vista/W7 so I do not know how that outcome would be....

are you stating Vista/W7 will still boot up with different boards with out a bsod? and running an in place upgrade?
I have never had a BSOD from 7 when swapping any hardware, including putting my SSD in a completely different PC.

XP, every single damn time. Can't speak on Vista, used it less than 8.
 
I've seen on some rare instances with XP, that windows will boot up with another board and the boards both had the same chipset. I haven't tried switching boards with Vista/W7 so I do not know how that outcome would be....

are you stating Vista/W7 will still boot up with different boards with out a bsod? and running an in place upgrade?

I never did when I swapped my laptop's HDD between 3 different laptops.

Went from a Compaq with a low-end Core2Duo Pentium, to a Lenovo Thinkpad with totally different Core 2 Duo chipset, and then finally to an i7 in my current Asus G73. Worked fine. Reformatted last year because I wanted to start clean again just because. Otherwise, worked for about 6 years or so just fine.

Granted, I tried the same thing on my girlfriend's laptop (switching from her old Acer to the previously mentioned Thinkpad), but it BSOD'd and wouldn't boot unless it was freshly installed.

Never did try the Sysprep on her laptop though; so it's possible it still could have worked.
 
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