Formating and new OS on "C" with games on "D"

[Rhezuss]

Hi all, I have a question concerning an OS upgrade.

I'm currently on Win7 which is installed on my SSD "C" drive.

All my games, Steam and other programs are installed on my HDD "D" drive.

If I format my "C" and install a new copy of Windows 8.1, will I have to reinstall everything on the "D" drive or everything will work fine?

 

[Ketchup]

If you wipe and re-install Windows, all programs will need to be re-installed. If you leave the data and let 8.1 perform an upgrade, your programs "should" not need to be re-installed.

 

[mrjminer]

Some of your programs *might* still work, but you will have to pop into your "D" drive and try running the .exe/launchers for each one manually after you reinstall Windows, or create some shortcuts and toss them on your new Windows install. Not going to know until you try, but anticipate reinstalls.

 

[PliotronX]

Some of your programs *might* still work, but you will have to pop into your "D" drive and try running the .exe/launchers for each one manually after you reinstall Windows, or create some shortcuts and toss them on your new Windows install. Not going to know until you try, but anticipate reinstalls.

This! You will have to reinstall Steam assuredly but you can make the previously used D folder a Steam downloads folder and it should pick it up and not have to redownload. Everything else is hit or miss but yeah just try those EXE files and then you can make shortcuts again.

 

[Rhezuss]

Nice thanks! I will try that but I think i'm gonna reinstall everything just to make sure.

 

[Binky]

Games generally work just fine after moving drives. Steam can be reinstalled and told to use the existing installed games.

 

[denis280]

Nice thanks! I will try that but I think i'm gonna reinstall everything just to make sure.

all is true. butt i always prefer a fresh install.and clean

 

[Ichinisan]

Beware of games with DRM and a limited number of activations. You might lose an activation by wiping Windows without uninstalling the game(s) first.

 

[sandorski]

Steam does not need to be re-installed. You will just need to find the Steam.exe in the Steam folder to run it. That is one of the things I like about Steam, you can just Copy/Paste the whole folder and everything still works. However, certain 3rd party Logins, DirectX and C++ libraries will need to be re-downloaded/Installed into the fresh C: drive, but Steam does this automatically.