New Computer: can I read files from previous system C drive?

I'm about to replace my 10 year old Windows 10 Pro with a brand new computer and install Windows 11 Pro. Rather than trying to clone the Win 10 C drive, I have decided to make a clean install and then reinstall all the software that I use - oh, what a chore that will be! On old computer the C drive is M.2 SSD and there are two additional HD.

I will backup my user files from the old C drive, but I'm worried about missing something. New mobo can carry two M.2, so I am thinking I will put SSD from old computer into the second space. Then I will be able to copy files from it to the new SSD as needed. I don't need to keep the old SSD, I just want to be sure that all old files are accessible until I'm sure my new system is complete.

Q: will I be able to read user files from old SSD or will they have access control protections? If so, can I override?
Q: instead of putting old SSD into second space, should I instead copy C partition to a backup, using Macrium Reflect?

Thank you!

You may need to alter the user access permission for you to access old SSD files.

1) are you wiping and reinstalling on the same drive your windows install is on now? or one of the other drives?
2) if the latter, then yes you can still access the entire old drive (system and user files). i would first decrypt it if bitlocker is enabled/configured

Can you take an image of your C drive with some backup software to keep as a "just in case"?
Then you can mount the image and extract anything you need - months down the track if need be.

I would leave the old computer as is for now and just copy the files you want to an external drive. After your new computer is setup and your sure you have all your files, you can decide what you want to do with the old computer.

A tip: I get USB cases to hold the SATA drives, make good backup storage. Recently got a Sabrent USB case for a 256GB NVMe M.2 stick salvaged from an trashed Notebook, takes up less room in my pocket.

Generally you'll be able to access all, or most, of the data from the old drive very easily. You could do as suggested and install the old drive into a spare M.2 slot on the new motherboard/system but I wouldn't do it until after you've installed the OS on the new system...to avoid confusion during the install process.
One area that might give you trouble is accessing the old saved browser favorites and saved login info...if needed. You might want to export them before to make restoring them easier. The login/passwords are stored encrypted under a user profile(I think) so harder to access.
As an alternative you can just as easily put the old M.2 drive on an external M.2 enclosure and access via USB.

dr_glenn said:

I will backup my user files from the old C drive, but I'm worried about missing something. New mobo can carry two M.2, so I am thinking I will put SSD from old computer into the second space. Then I will be able to copy files from it to the new SSD as needed. I don't need to keep the old SSD, I just want to be sure that all old files are accessible until I'm sure my new system is complete.

Q: will I be able to read user files from old SSD or will they have access control protections? If so, can I override?

Click to expand...

There will be access permissions, but you should be able to get round those if you are signed in as an administrator. At best you may get a popup offering permanent access to this folder, like this one.



At worse you would have to take ownership of the folder and give your account full control permissions.

Alternatively, you can run TreeSizeFree as an administrator, that can look at and copy from any folder bypassing all permissions.

dr_glenn said:

Q: instead of putting old SSD into second space, should I instead copy C partition to a backup, using Macrium Reflect?

Click to expand...

That works too, in fact it's probably the simplest solution. If you mount a Macrium image with the 'Enable access to restricted folders' option it bypasses all NTFS permissions and restrictions.