[hamasaki123]

My mainboard broke, due to unknown reason (p4p800e deluxe asus)
and I want to buy a new one (MSI neo2 PFISR)
my HDD has alot of stuff on it which I need to keep,
I was wondering how I can save all my stuff, (my hdd is partitioned into 2 parts)
I heard you can use your old HDD in a new computer as long as you don't change too many parts where In my case I am only changing the mainboard.
or.. I should take my HDD to my friends house and use my HDD as a slave on his computer (don't know if I can) and copy my important files over, format my drive, install windows, then copy my stuff back over the network.

Can someone tell me the best thing I should do? ( or any new ideas I can do) in my case the fastest method.
Im really desperate too fix it.
Thanks

[Advertisements]

Your mainboard has lots of stuff on it that require drivers, from the chipset on down, so it won't be just a matter of putting it all together and having it work. At the very least you will have to get new drivers, if you buy a stock board they will be on the software CD. At the worst you will have to reinstall the OS.
If you just change it to a new one of the same type it should work right off.

[Tyger]

Your mainboard has lots of stuff on it that require drivers, from the chipset on down, so it won't be just a matter of putting it all together and having it work. At the very least you will have to get new drivers, if you buy a stock board they will be on the software CD. At the worst you will have to reinstall the OS.
If you just change it to a new one of the same type it should work right off.

[fnark]

You will often be told to format your hdd before installing a new mainboard, but as long as you have the drivers for the new mainboard you should be alright. Computers, although stupid, are rather good at sorting themselves out. Theres really very little chance of corrupting any data on the HDD or damaging the mainboard if you do this.
The other thing to do would be to get another small harddrive and set it to master, then set yours to slave and install the OS on the smaller hardrive, this is actually quite a good thing to do as it means the OS will be less clogged up.

[hamasaki123]

I don't really want to buy the same board, as I found out after buying it that it the board has many problems..
I am purchasing the MSI neo2 PFISR.
As for the suggestions thanks alot!.
Is it possible for me to get my HDD and stick it in any random computer as a slave?
Will it work?

[Kurt_Aust]

As to putting your drive as slave into any random computer, the answer is that it will almost certainly work.

However, if you drive is a large one (over 32GB) note that some older MotherBoards /BIOSes won't support it (I've found Intel based motherboards worse for this than AMD ones).

It's worthwhile trying it anyway, as long as you follow standard precautions, what do you have to lose?