Installation issue—likely many questions have been raised before.
Installation issue—likely many questions have been raised before.
Your data should remain intact if you have a proper backup. If you're concerned about upgrading without losing everything, ensure your current backups are complete before proceeding. Upgrading won't erase files unless you specifically delete or overwrite them.
In reality, yes, they'll all be in the same place. However, it varies based on the upgrade since it affects whether your operating system can accommodate the change. For an OS upgrade, the location of your software generally stays the same. But for a hardware upgrade, it depends on what's being replaced and the extent of the replacement. Changing your graphics card isn't an issue, but upgrading your motherboard—especially if you also add CPU and memory—might require reinstalling the OS to properly access your data.