do i have to erase my hard drive, if i am switch into a new mobo?

Question

i was wondering if i have to erase my hd, because i have lots of file that i want to keep. and another thing is the bios saved into the hard drive or is it in motherboard?

open to any suggestions

thanks

Answer 1

BIOS is saved on the Motherboard BIOS called American MegaTrends or Awards.



Things to do before migration is done.

1.Back up files that are important, I mean very important to u.

2.Unpluck all the existing connected device from your decommissioned PC.

3.Uninstall all the drivers on the existing PC. This is because your existing drivers may or may not conflict with your new motherboard. Anyway, we never know so play safe.

4.Place your original OS CD on the optical driver then install your old harddisk to your new PC so that your OS may update system files at anytimes during the processing of start up your new PC.

Answer 2

You do not have to erase your hard drive. The BIOS information is stored on the mother board, not the hard drive. However will probably will have to run the CD that comes with the new motherboard to add all the drives needed to run the chips on the new board.



However, it is recommended that you do a fresh install. Good time to clean up your hard drive and get rid of any drivers, etc. left over from the old board. But is not necessary.



It is also possible that Windows may decide that you are no longer running it on the same computer, and try to reactivate itself. If it does, it will give you a phone number for Microsoft that you will have to call and tell that what you are doing. They will be able to reactive Windows for you at no charge. (50/50 on whether you will have to call).

Answer 3

The BIOS is saved directly on the motherboard.



You probably don't need to erase your HD, but you will need to check Device Manager after you boot up to see if there are any devices with yellow triangles. Those indicate hardware that is not functioning correctly.



XP will most likely find any new hardware on the mobo and if you have a disk that came with it, it will have the drivers on it.



You also want to check Device Manager for any entries that may refer to hardware that was on the old mobo. Again, these should have a yellow triangle next to them.



You will also want to run Microsoft Update as soon as you can to see if there are additional updates for any new hardware related to the board (namely device controllers).



Finally, if you are replacing a Dell, Gateway, eMachines, etc mobo, one of two things will happen:



1) If you are lucky, all you will need to do is activate your copy of Windows again. That;s because you copy of XP was originally installed on specific hardware that did not require activation.



2) If you are unlucky, your system won't boot at all and you will get an error message. That;s because the OEM version of Windows may not allow you to even boot into Windows because of the mobo change. It is not very common, but it can happen.

Answer 4

If the new motherboard is different than the original, and you intend to boot the OS from the original hard drive, there is a good chance you'll have to reformat the drive.



Symantec makes a product that will let you copy the contents of the drive, then restore it new hardware. It's called System Recovery Server, and works great. I've used it a couple servers at work w/out a problem.

Answer 5

No you do not have to erase the hard drive when replacing the motherboard on your computer. You simply need to load the new drivers for the board once it is replaced. Most computer people will do a fresh install anyway to help get rid of the excess files they may have accumulated since last instlal to allow the machine to run a little faster for a while

Answer 6

As long as the HD is compatale with your new mobo you shouldnt have any problems.Most mobo's are compatable with most HD's. If you are worried,or if the 2 aren't compatable,download your info unto a external hd or a flash drive before you switch (if that's an option) -then reload your files when you start with the new mobo.

Also you could load the files as I said above,then reformat the HD after you install the new mobo.

The bios come with the mobo,I'm pretty sure,but not absolutely positive



Good Luck.

Answer 7

You dont need to reformat (erase) your hard disk when you change any of the hardware of your PC

The BIOS is stored on a Read-Only chip on the motherborad and can be altered only by flasing the BIOS

In simple words - you dont need to delete anything except the drivers for your old motherboard

Answer 8

in case you opt for for to erase your not uncomplicated stress and reuse it ie do not care if the advice is recoverable then an uncomplicated format will paintings. format c: or in spite of the stress letter is of the stress which you relatively choose for to format. it is not reliable sufficient in case you're fearful approximately protection because of the fact the advice is actual recoverable with professional application. the only genuine techniques of securely destroying the advice is to stick a nail in the time of the stress with your hammer or in basic terms pass all out with the hammer and wreck it to bits or get a great useful magnetic and go away it next to it for a jiffy and this would harm the advice.

Answer 9

Yes. If you switch motherboards, you will probably need to format.



However, 5% of time you get lucky and dont NEED to, but is highly recommeded anyway