Pentium 3s

do i need to reformat my hard drive if i buy a new motherboard?

I plan on buying a new motherboard for my computer. Do i have to reformat my hard drive or can i just swap out my old motherboard and put in my new one?

Public Comments

1. You can just swap them so no need for reformatting
2. yes, you can do that, swap the motherboards. but make sure motherboard will fit on the case. otherwise, you will also need a case.
3. If you are running win2k, XP or Vista, be prepared to insert your original installation CD. If it is a different model mobo, they will all need to reload drivers and probably balk at booting up.
4. nope you dont
5. Contrary to what others say you will have to reinstall the operating system unless you use a motherboard with the same chipsets. The hard drive has the Northbridge and Southbridge chipset drivers on it and your new board is not going to fire up with the drivers for the old board's chipsets on the hard drive. It needs the drivers for its chipsets.This "Windows will automatically reconfigure itself" is total BS because, without the northbridge firing up, youre going nowhere.
6. SJ is correct ..... depends on how different the boards are, you might get lucky and have XP actually boot then tell you because of a major hardware upgrade it needs to re-activate. If you're going to be doing a major update always better to start fresh ... that way you don't inherit any of the little quirky things or bloated registry that have been building over time