PC Hardware → Upgrade/HDD question

I've got a PC I'm upgrading after a few years. The old system has a H55 motherboard, i3-550 CPU and a 1TB Seagate HDD. The new system will be a H97 mobo, i5-4590 CPU and a 500GB 840 EVO SSD ($189 w/free shipping from Amazon on Black Friday, which is what prompted the sudden urge to upgrade in the first place).

I'll be reusing everything else, including the TB HDD as a storage drive. Is there anything I need to do to keep the 300+ GB of media on the HDD? I've got video and audio in 2 separate public folders. I was planning on installing the SSD as the boot drive, then after a fresh install of Win7 I was going to add the HDD back into the system as storage. Would I be able to simply view the folders on the HDD and delete everything I don't need (basically everything but the audio and video files)? I've never done this on previous builds as I've always upgraded to new HDDs.

Yes.

Assuming that you plan to reinstall from scratch, the user ids on the new system will differ from user ids used on the old disk. So depending on the protection on the files, you might need to 'take ownership' to gain access. Minor issue, is all.

(Alternatively, ensure all files have 'everyone: full control' on the old system)

Just in case, how do I "take ownership"?

Right click on the root directory in Explorer, properties, permissions, advanced, ownership.

Got it. Thanks.

You could use the Microsoft migration tool, "Windows Easy Transfer" to migrate the profiles, user settings and data. It's handy even if you don't migrate any data files or user settings, as it will give you a rundown of the installed software.

Start -> run -> migwiz