mattlock

It's not normally necessary to do a clean install with a new motherboard, but a clean install is always the best option if you don't mind reinstalling all your software. I've had plenty of success with repair installs after upgrades.

As for the sound, go into add/remove and remove any audio devices that may be there. Then go into device manager and remove all entries under "Sound, Video, and Game controllers" Reboot and install the Audio drivers that came on the motherboard driver cd.

What do you mean by "port contents"? Backup the entire drive including OS, or just backup personal data (Music, etc)? If you just want to backup your personal data then, just copy and paste it to the SATA drive.