Question about motherboards & hard drives

[ctedgeman]

I don't know much about this stuff so please bear with me...

I'm interested in updating my cpu and memory, but I have a pretty old motherboard. The upgrade I'd like to make I'm pretty sure would require me to get a new motherboard since my current one doesn't have a LGA 775 socket.

So my question is if I were to put in a new motherboard, would my hard drive need to be reformatted before the hard drive would work?

I'm basically not wanting to lose all the data on my hard drive, but I have a feeling I don't have a choice (aside from moving it all somewhere else first). Am i right about that?

In a nutshell, if I install everything (motherboard/cpu/ddr2) and just turn on my computer, is my hard drive going to have no idea what to do and essentially do nothing and not start up?

[The Saviour]

You'll definitely not be able to boot from that hard drive if you change the motherboard...however, you could add another hard drive...install the new operating sytem on the new hard drive and slave the old one so the information on that drive would be readily available.

It's really not that difficult to do...and if you need help with it...give us a shout...

[ctedgeman]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I will probably try to do that.

[The Saviour]

You're welcome...

Let us know how it goes...okay?

[ctedgeman]

I'm working with a pretty tight space inside this case. I honestly don't know if I can fit 2 hard drives in there. Can I use a new external hard drive as the master and set the internal one that's already in there to slave?

[The Saviour]

While you can certainly do what you've suggested...you may want to rethink it.

Personally...this is what I would recommend...

While you can't just use the same drive, attached to your current motherboard, on a new motherboard...unless, of course, that new motherboard is EXACTLY the same motherboard (as the old one) configured the same...same jumper settings...same BIOS, etc., etc...highly unlikely, though...

Your best bet would be to use a new hard drive installed with the new motherboard...partitioned...formatted.. .and setup with the OS of your choosing (as long as it's supported) and jumpered as "Master"...the old drive I'd "Slave".  I'd then copy anything I needed from the old drive to the new.  That's just me...and I usually stick to my guns...but you may hear different from other users within this forum.

I, too have an external drive, but do not use it as a boot device.  I use it as a backup device...files, programs, folders, etc.

My posts tend to get a little long and winded so please bear with me...

Since it is your intention to replace the motherboard...you're better off with the above recommendation...however...you may want to wait to see what others may say...

[ctedgeman]

Yeah I just wasn't sure if because it would be a external usb drive that it would be weird to use it as a boot device.

I guess either way my next hurdle is finding my windows cd...

Thanks for the info.

[The Saviour]

You're welcome...

Keep us posted...