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What is the best way to reinstall Windows after a MoBo/CPU upgrade while maximizing app/file/configuration retention? (lemm.ee)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I recently acquired a new MoBo, CPU, and RAM kit to upgrade my platform for the first time in just about a decade. What I failed to consider until now is the near requirement of a clean Windows install after the upgrade.

I want to retain as much of my personal files, installed software, Windows and Explorer settings, etc. as humanly possible after the reinstall, WITHOUT retaining any files/drivers that could possibly cause performance loss and/or conflicts. I also use Classic Shell, if that matters.

On Windows 10 Home x64, and my current C: drive is a 1TB SSD, and I plan on backing it up to a 4TB HDD I bought for data hording. GPU and other PCIe cards will remain the same, along with a stack of storage HDDs with various media files and installed software/games.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

For future, I would get a seperate internal drive (or at least partition the C drive with 75g for windows) for personal data/game library etc. This way when you reinstall the OS, your data is less impacted.

Many programs, including classic shell, have an export settings to file button. Then you can import them back in after the reinstall. For classic shell, it doesn't save what you have "pinned to start".

For a lot of programs like explorer you're out of luck and will have to start fresh. For some progrmas, you could go into the app data folder and see if there's a settings file you could copy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it bugs out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I wish I had the foresight to buy a smaller SSD just for boot, and save up for a storage SSD or two for my heavy games. But I wanted it all right now and for less money, which was obviously a compromise in hindsight lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

No worries, a lot of us started out the same way. Eventually, I grabed a 128GB on sale for boot, and used the 1TB for every thing else.