How often do you reformat your HDD?

[oblivion]

I do it...in a good month at least 3-5 times(that is with upgrading every other week ect.)...............maybe once or twice a month on a slow month......I love a clean install,there is nothing quite like it............its almost like having a new car or something......anyways Ijust got a small one gig HDD in a trade as a freebie..........I am going to ghost a basic winblows optimized and tweaked install to it and save it for those uh oh times.
What about you guys...............did you reformat this month?

[slowlearner]

I do it about ever three months I download so much junk that my windows swell to about 3 hundred megs then it time for a fdisk and format, I agree there nothing like a fresh install,but if it give me the slightest bit of trouble I format again, had to many bad installs to fool around with them.

[RobRich]

At home, I haven't formatted my personal system in over six months. I do have a weekly routine though:

-scandisk
-defrag
-MS-Reclean (fixes system reg entries)
-RegCleaner (deletes old entries + opt)
-scanreg /fix (deletes bad entries)
-scanreg /opt (compresses registry files)
-edit bad entries from system.ini and win.ini
-search for un-needed *.dll's and *.vxd's

I haven't noted any problems concerning stablity or performance since I've adopted this technique. Considering that I'm running mostly Win98 at home, I feel extremely lucky.

Robert Richmond

PS - Doesn't account for other Operating Systems. I have to format my Linux partition all the time, as I commonly try out different releases that I receieve.

[This message has been edited by RobRich (edited 05-24-2000).]

[Target]

I'm in the same boat as RobRich, but my last format was much longer ago........ either I am really lucky, or am doing something right. Maybe a combo of both http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[alan]

dont format much more,
much prefer to use ghost, i got an image thats a good 2 months old and have used it about 4 times since.
takes to long sitting there waiting for the drive to format, dont like quick format either
alan

[oblivion]

I usually do all of what you have listed rob,but it seems I am always upgrading or doing something silly like OCing so high that it whacks my reg out(yes I do know about scanreg,but the /opt command) I have a proggie that scans for unused DLLs and puts themn in a backupdll folder(I am assuming that you also use this)..........windows is basically a rock for me.....I never have problems with it at all,except the ones that I on occasion create so foolishly in my tweaking adventures.

[bhess]

probably every 6 months.

[jad1097]

Too often.

[OuTpaTienT]

NEVER. Ok, once. I usually don't trust the factory format (all new HD are pre-formatted). So I format and partition my brand new HDs...and that's it!!!

What the hell are you guys doing that you think you need to format so often. Ridiculous. If you constantly install/uninstall software & you do anything that massively uses (abuses) a swapfile (like photo or video-editing) & you are really really anal about such things then...maybe...formatting your HD once a year would be sufficient.

Wow. You guys are just chasing your tails for the hell of it. What benefit do you get out of reformatting that some simple disk maintenance doesn't take care of. And if you wanna "fresh" start, then just wipe the C:\ disk (delete all) and re-install the OS. What's with all the reformatting? Can we say, "Obsessive-compulsive disorder?" http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[Stan]

Yep, I agree with OuTpaTienT.
I re-format the HD every time I install a new OS or hardware. That's it...
That's approx 2-3 times a year...

Stan

[Snuffy!]

Once a month, otherwise there is heaps of **** on my computer taking all my space, and there are about a zillion things running in the background.

[tonym]

Why is there so much formatting going on out there?

Although it won't do any damage to the HDD, it's a big, big waste of time and energy to format so often. I format once at OS install (see RobRich, Outpatient), but then leave it alone. This formatting over-and-over runs counter-intuitive to the concept of uptime and high-reliability!

Sure, if you whack (knacker!) your registry, then you've got no choice but to do a fresh install, and PERHAPS a re-format. But to format once a month is like tearing up all the flooring/carpeting in your home that often.

What you probably should be doing is partitioning your drive into many logical drives. All my systems have partitions to drive U:! Make the partitions large enough and you can have an OS partition (C http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif, a program partition (D http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif, a utility partition (E http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif, a comms partition (F http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif, data partitions, and so on. This scheme also makes data backup a snap. And you're able to isolate your programs such that you can cleanse your system a lot easier if they're quarantined on their own partition(s). BTW, I also use a separate *PARTITION* for all my downloads. New software never gets close to the OS partition!

To me, the "sweaty brow" time of OS install and HDD formatting takes all the fun out of actually using/playing with a computer. So, be brave and try something different. I'll bet you like the results!


Tony

[daveleau]

Too often. At least recently that is. As I come across new stuff, I have to reformat. I recently set up RAIDs on both of my systems and had to reformat to do so. I have had 2 hdd failures and had to reformat. 3 reformats b/c of hardware issues/ upgrades int he last month to two months...
Dave

[bobcat]

I restore a clean image about every three months.

I have a boot partition that is 500M (FAT16). I do a clean install of the OS (ONCE). IMAGE it. Add more software. IMAGE it. All I have to do is restore which ever IMAGE I need. It takes 10 minutes and I have a clean system.

I recommend Norton GHOST over DriveImage.

[deep_sky]

well i reformat every time windows gets really slow and unresponsive even though i got through strenuous reg cleaning, scandisking, defragging and all that. one time i had 98 get corrupted beyond recall so i had to reformat my drive twice over a weekend.
i am probably gonna reformat and reinstall win2k sometime over the summer. it has been around 4 months since i installed it and i have installed and uninstalled a ton of programs...and it is responding like i have a 200mhz machine instead of 450.....
so in the time i have own the computer i have reformatted at least 5 times in the past 8 months....

[Dave_H]

This computer I'm on now, at my house has only been formatted once. That was in July of 98. Yup, coming up on 2 years and it still runs great with no problems at all. Only once have I had to restore a previous image when I screwed something up, and that image was a current one. Once a week, I do the normal maintenance things, twice a month the pretty thorough routine similar with what RobRich listed.

However, I use a test system to install and try new programs and things before I put them in my home or office systems. That way, I'm not constantly installing and un installing things on my "good" systems until I'm sure I like the programs and will really want to keep or use them. The test system, I have several different image's saved on a second drive, and its not uncommon at all for me to be restoring an image. Besides, the test system has nothing important on it and would be no big deal to screw up.
Personally, I could never be able to re-format and re-install as often as some of the people I know, It takes me a long time to get a system running the way I want.
Dave

[hd581]

It depends on which computer. The one I acutally use? 2-3 times a year. The one I test OS's on? 2-3 times a week.

[PCnerd]

At home I do it about onece in 3 month. At work, I do it almost everyday. Oh well, I got 9 more to go. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[ablang]

I've done it one time, and that was to do a clean install from Win95 (old), to Win98.

Problems here and there since, but I can live with them.

[narayan]

I have only reformatted once in the last year on this PC (unscheduled http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif), and never on the other one that I have had for about 4 years now. I don't like to re-install after deleting all the **** that comes with Windoze and having to delete it again. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Biff]

I do it about every 3-4 months, unless I replace specific hardware or have problems. Has been up to 2-3 times in one month or 1 in 6 months (depending on my luck I guess)

[Mntsnow]

All I can say is keep partitioning and formating...Sooner or later most people mess-up and endup bringing them to me http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif lol

Seriously I format my drives only when I am changing OS's. Or my wife or daughter have messed their systems up so bad that I dont want to take the time to sort it out...Then it's a quick format and restore of their latest image. Total time from start to finish 25 minutes tops!

Mntsnow

[shadow]

I reformatted one of mine once about 8 months ago and most likely didn't need to but live and learn. My other drive was new 2 months ago and wont be reformatted unless I get major problems, which I dont expect to. Another drive has been running Win98 for 2 years. I agree with all thats been said about not reformatting, I avoid it at all costs. With maintenance and common sense there should be no need for all that reformatting. My computers run just ducky.
If some program upsets the stability of these boxes I dump the program and clean out the remnants.

[ajbrown]

can someone explain this
'image' thing to me
hehe

[pickel]

I had to reformat last summer when the system started to radically misbehave. Since getting Norton System Works and using the utilities on a regular basis( at least once a week) my computer has become reliable and easy to live with. I have the later version on my( our ) other computers and they do great too. If I screwup and that's a regular
occurance, I do a Reg/restore and run them all. Works like a charm http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[thxmanu]

ajbrown- an image is a complete copy of your HD stored in one file. As for formatting, my gaming system gets it only when hammered or slo-mo, maybe once or twice a year. My non-gaming system hasn't had a format for 2 years. I also have clean images just in case.

[LJE2]

I have an Onstream ADR 15/30G tape backup, and I also use Norton Ghost. The only time I reformat is when I install a new hard drive or a new O/S.

[socalgal]

Last time I formatted my main box was ±10 months ago, when I had the Guillemot fiasco.

I've upgraded/removed alot of hardware, re- and un- and installed alot of progs (cleaning out whatever I can find from my Registry when uninstalling), hosed my network several times, and have had to run Win98 'setup.exe' only once.

I just read about a prog in the 06 Jun 00 issue of PC Magazine called 'FindOrphans' that looks pretty interesting, since I suspect I have lots of hidden "scraps" in my Registry. Haven't tried it yet.

It's located here http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/utilities/

Now my W2K box is another matter... Have played and formatted that box at least 6-7 times, so far. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

There are good tips here. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif I'm hoping that 'FindOrphans' will truly locate all those unneeded .dll's and others.

I also have a second hdd in-system for backups.

[This message has been edited by socalgal (edited 05-26-2000).]

[rtyp3]

no more than once a year, unless I royally screw something up and have to.

[voogru]

5-6 times a month.... I dont bother troubleshooting windows when i can just reinstall windows in less time than it takes to troubleshoot it

today i did 2 formats...a quckie and a slow one...

i could have just done a slow one but i didnt think of it http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

-voogru

[NDC]

Only when I reinstall the OS....But I run my riutine maintenance such as Boot Time Defrag, Scandisk, Registery clean, etc every two weeks....

[This message has been edited by NDC (edited 03-02-2001).]

[daveleau]

Does anyone notice that this topic began almost a year ago? http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

As I have gotten larger drives, I do it less often. About 4-5 times a year at my xcurrent pace.

Dave

[NDC]

No kidding, huh? Where did you dig this up from Rtyp3??? http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif Oh, well... I think a topic never becomes old as long as people reply to them! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[RayH]

I try to as little as possible. But probably every three months or so! I used to really get things haywired! I'm a bit self taught in these things.

The last time was when I trying out a mouse lock program. I couldn't unlock it! So much for that type of shareware! I had to reload Windows in order to get my stuff working!

[Fingers]

Only one time in the last 5 years have I re-formatted a drive due to problems....and that was for a virus in the MBR.
The only other time I re-format drives is either when I change operating systems or to wipe the information off an old hdd after I've replaced it with a newer one.

[FrozenLiquidity]

I'm with you OuTpaTienT!!! NEVER!!!

I have formatted my HD once, when I got it over a year ago. And not since. I just defrag when I need to and it is still as fast as it ever was!

FrozenLiquidity

[AndreRIO]

hi
since i install win2k, i never needed to format again.

andré.

[Warthog]

Yeah, I don't understand the crapload of formatting either. I do it about once every 6 months.......or when my comp starts to slow down a lot or when stuff starts to screw up a lot.

Also, the whole process of all this installing/formatting **** takes me about 3 hours to get back to 100% operating status.

Warthog

[This message has been edited by Warthog (edited 03-02-2001).]

[brandon184]

I'll reformat whenever needed. Which is usually once or twice a year.

I don't enjoy reformatting.

- Brandon

[Warthog]

Oh c'mon, Brandon, I get a RUSH doing it! woohoo! I mean, the blood reallllllyyyy starts flowing while doing that dandy format! It's a lot of fun!

Warthog

[King_Kooba_Fantastique]

45 gig HDD, i dont have the patience, the HDD is not even a year old, installed win98se about hmmm 3 months ago, so i havent bothered with fdisking yet.

KKF.

[King_Kooba_Fantastique]

45 gig HDD, i dont have the patience, the HDD is not even a year old, installed win98se about hmmm 3 months ago, so i havent bothered with fdisking yet.

KKF.

[MiKe85]

Personally i try to reformat the HDD AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif
I'm one of those people who likes to download every time that i can where my parents or no one wants to use the computer, i'll be downloading one thing or another..From MP3s to Game demos...
I would say 2 times a month or so

Mike

[Richard_Cranium72]

Please click this link before I go get BBA


http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/Forum2/HTML/007516.html

[Variable]

Depends... till about a year ago I about re-formated and did a total re-install about every month.
Now I do it about every 2-3months.

@Outpatient: Re-Formating is a quicker (?), easier and more reliable way to clean your C:\ drive! It makes sure there are absolutely NO files left! Also my Computer needs change and as they change so do my partitioning-requirements! Large C:\ small D:\ or 3 drives ....

[shadow]

I have to agree with the "no reformatters" of the group. It takes so much time to redo a system, with all the registry tweaks, little things here and there, not to mention those hard to replace programs. My W98 box has never been redone, it's over 2 years old now, my W95b box is over a year and this W2k box is only a few months but none of these boxes has been reformatted since the OS was installed.

Ok...this W2k box had to be reinstalled 2 days after I first installed due to a bios flash, trying to use ACPI and failing, it had to be wiped and reinstalled, but not reformatted http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[Fingers]

Keep in mind that this thread was started in May 2000. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[samwichse]

Yes, but a computer is also like a car in that those of us who want to get from point A to point B just a little bit faster are going to screw up the engine and have to rebuild. Only difference is that it doesn't cost any money to reinstall windows and it cost 350$ for a valve job on my car.

[Tom Pico]

Whenever I install a new motherboard -- seems like too often -- four in the last couple of years. I know I could just delete Windows and the system files, but everything has to be reinstalled again anyway -- so might as well format. I keep copies of pretty much everything on my D drive so don't worry about losing info.

And, yeah I get a rush killing the drive -- its like surfing and catching a wave bigger than you really wanted and thinking "OH ____, I'm gonna die!"

[Rockydog]

Some people have nothing else to do. A computer is like a car. Do normal maintenance and it will serve you well. I've had a Win95B for over 3 years and no formatting. I use the computer nearly every day and lot of programs go in and out. My Maintenance? Defrag once a month. Uninstaller by McAfee, and I use McAfee Nuts&Bolts utilities to keep the register clean and tidy.
This thing is still running like a top.

[[Neo770]]

I havent formatted my win2k box for about 3 months. And now that I finally have my PC set up perfectly I am hoping to not have to format for years.

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[G]

Hi to all those mad, obsessive-compulsive formatters out their <grin>

I thought the idea was that the computer was ‘slave to the human’. I personally think people are wasting to much of their life messing about with their computers unnecessarily.

Thought for the day,
G

[KMBALO]

reformat to just do it seems like a hassle and a lot of work to me. I only do it if sys files or something has gone haywire in dos and I'm builing or repairing a computer and can't solve the problem by edit . I have HAD to reformat my drive, it sucks loosing all the files and programs. I don't think it is REAL good to format so often. using your regular windows programs to tune-up your drive seems to keep it in good enough shape. However you must fdisk and format to rid your system of a boot virus.
I don't see the real advantage to a regular formatting, the time it takes if you've got a 20 giger like me!

[wyvrn]

Only when needed, such as new OS install or when I upgrade my hard drive. Formatting takes forever on anything over a 5GB hard drive. I don't install a bunch of shareware anymore, heck I have a problem filling 5GB on whatever hard drive I am using. I usually do not have more than 2 games installed at any one time on my system. I run the scandisk and defrag stuff every week, no problems for about 6 months so far.

[drizzle]

I usually have to redo my system every 4-6 months. Normally I'll just kill the Windows folder then reinstall. If I'm wiping out the whole drive I'll do a quick format (format c: /q).

[Barney]

I format every time I get a new harddrive. After that, I just delete Windows when it's screwed up and re-install it. That happens once in 3~6 months.

[Wilan Wong]

I reformat about once in two months or sometimes once a month depends on how cluttered my system gets and it depends on my state of mind if I can be bothered to install everything again. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[KMBALO]

Man just this morning I took out my 20 gig to boot on my sons computer and when I put it back in my system it wont boot, Man o man,
it just stalls after searching for boot record from IDE-O acts like it will go to win, but doesn't! Alll Bios info is right too! To avoid grooling dos edits I just may re format if a win98 reinstall doesn't solve prob!

[kanchu_deep]

Hi, guys. I format very often. Must have done it atleast 30 times in just a year.
I first tried out all the SW needed and made a list of good ones. Then formated and reinstalled the SW. I also did it to convert from FAT16 to FAT32. I also use many partitions on my HDDs. 2 in a 2.1GB and 9 in a 20GB one. Multiple partitions is a good idea. It's also nice to have 2 HDD. Have a backup copy of Win98 SE and RH6 Linux on the 2.1. Even had Dos6.22 and Win3.11 before coverting to FAT32. The 20GB runs Win98SE and RH6 Linux. The 2.1 is a backup of essential SW and data.

[RichRobbins]

I'm with OuTpaTienT. I format the HD when I install it. After that, it is simple drive maintenance.

[HackMax]

I reformat only when I add new hardware. In the past I've had problems crop up after adding a new video card, sound card, or even a hard drive. I keep an ghost image of my drive which i use to restore the computer when i have a problem that is not hardware related. Unfortunatly this happens quite often because of all the software I try out. Something in poorly written software corrupts my OS every now and then. Imaging saves the reboot after reboot of installing updates and common software programs. I'm not one that prefers to spend countless hours trying to troubleshoot a problem that can simply be fixed by restoring my computer with a good image. How often I restore? every 2 months or so.

[RDIII]

Seems to me that most people these days play with their computers yet they don't know what they are really doing. They just get advice on forums and read how to stuff and think they know what they are doing. A lot of unnecessary tweaking ends up leading to problems they don't understand which leads them to re-format their HD or frying a chip or worse. They end up wasting more time getting the "tweaks" to work than they were going to save by doing them in the first place. Of course this is all due to the "do it yourself" attitude many people have with their computers when a lot of the time it's stuff they probably shouldn't even be messing with. I liked it better when most people knew that they didn't know what they were doing and hired people to do it right. Now nobody knows what they are doing and they still end up hiring somebody to fix the problems they've gotten themself into.

Just my rant for the day.

[blehboy]

I run Win 2k pro on two boxes, Win 2k server on a third, Novell 3.12 on another and Win 98SE on my proxy server. Guess which one needs reformatting most often? Yep, the Win 98 box. I prefer to run stable operating systems and limit my hardware upgrades. This helps avoid the pitfalls of Windows like the unplanned reformat. I also am a strong believer in ghosting which helps when things do go wrong.

[kk713]

Are you guys nuts? The only time I have ever formatted a drive is on a new install. The only other times have been on computers that have some boot sector virus/worm. But just to improve performance could mean that your spending too much time not doing something else useful with your machine.

[Raedwulf]

For the most part, I don't reformat for a year or there abouts... unless I get fed up with a particular bad install.

This time around I got an install that was pretty much *golden*, backed it up, from here on in... I'm gonna keep up with my hardware... some hardware just relies to much on how I held my tongue when I pressed 'setup'

[BipolarBill]

Imaging is definitely the way to go. As others, I have multiple partitions. I get an OS set up (I have Win98SE, WinME and Win2K imaged) and running nicely and the IMAGE it right away. I occasionally image the C: partition only on the current OS. Any time things get goofy, I simply restore C: and I'm back in biz. Only a true HDD crash will bring this setup down and a format wouldn't help that anyway.

As I'm currently set up, I can have 3 partitions of any of the aforementioned OSes up and running in 30 minutes! I can use Ghost Explorer to restore any files that are "left behind" because I image the "bad" setup before wiping it. As you may have guessed, I like Ghost.

Keep in mind that you need at least one BIG extra HDD to accomplish the above. Luckily, I have 4 20+GB HDDs in this box and there's plenty of room left.

Cheers,
Bill

[Pantag]

Ok, Once every 6 months or so, and yes I agree there is obvious advantages to reformating and 2 hours every six months is hardly wasted time to kill all the registry build-ups ect... But I also wanted to add this, I built my mother a computer SEVEN YEARS AGO I have never reformatted it I did do an upgrade from Windows 3.1 to 95 but never a reformat and she says she it still runs perfect for her needs.
So in my opinion it will vary, greathly, depending on everyones situations, dislikes and habits.

[BBA]

Well...I had this last W2K image on my drive since I got my first shipment GF2Ultra...last October was it?

I just re-loaded the OS because I did something to hose up dns resolution...but I wanted to do it anyway...it was just an ache I had...still didn't reformat, just used a little modified version of my old Win98 method, hehehe http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Varieze]

Has anyone else tried the program Vopt to help maintain their HDs? I use it once or twice a week to clean up things and it keeps the reformats down to a minimum

[rh71]

I just make Ghost image backups along the way... it takes only 15 minutes to get an image back where it was sweet and smooth if I ever come across any issues.

[the corrupted]

I don't reformat if i can avoid it. I had to reformat twice last week to get a dud modem working, & when it didn't i just removed it & reloaded win98se. been rock solid otherwise, have almost no complaints. well, dud mobo choice, but thats it. all works & don't need maintenance.

[RenaissanceMan]

When the original Windows98 became available, did a system build on a new hd. and haven't formatted since.
although I have VERY GOOD maintenance practices.
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[jhickman]

I got a Gateway 2k 120 (eventually became a 133) back in Nov. 95 and have never reformatted nor reinstalled the OS. In Jan. 00 I built myself another computer (p233mmx running 266) and copied that drive from old system to my new drive and have ran it ever since with no reformat/reinstall either. I've had countless problems over the years where I thought I'd have to reinstall windows, but have always figured out the problem. I've probably gone through this 5 times in the last month. I'm always even hoping for some catastrophic problem so I can install win95b but my ole' win95a just keeps running too well! Scared to mess with a 40sec bootup. Most of my problems have pertained to the old vid card I had and getting new hardware to work. Haven't lost yet...knock on silicon. Bad joke, I know.

[JBKILLA]

Me I reformat every other month.
Get to much junk on my HD and download to much junk and then uninstall it later on cause I don't like it or need it or whatever, besides nothing's better than a clean install http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif .

[Richard_Cranium72]

Only when it gets too junked up to fix.

Have one HP Pavillion w/Pentium 2 350 been running over 2.25 years with NO FORMATS EVER !

Visiting scumland and Yahoo chat will frig one up quickly..

[NikHenville]

If it ain't broke - don't fix it.
I guess polishing it a la RobRich keeps things sweet, but reformatting several times a month smacks of either obsession or bad software management - or, come to think of it, just BAAAD software. OK.....maybe twice a year :-)

[nitro22]

whats the point?

[rogueflyer]

You folks are working to hard. NEVER, NEVER. I only format a hard drive when replacing my old one. This is probably once every year and half when I get a new drive for more capacity. Defragging my drive is probably the only maintenance I do for it.

[slammin]

I format my main partition about every 6 months. Usually to fix a now crapped out install of Windows. Have had Win 2000 Pro on now for about 6 months and it is acting up....time to format again.

[Zebra2k]

"System Acting Up" is a strange thing to say. But I must admit it myself, sure they act up. Isn't that implying that they have a mind to act with UP on their own?

I have many programs for tweaking my system. Windows tweakers are fun. If it's not broken don't fix it, is out.
Tweak you computers more often, if you aren't entertained by your computer tweak it some more.

I run scandisk and defrag 1-2 times a week. Perfer to use speeddisk. I bought my 8.4gig a few years back that came with it's own partitioning prog. So I used the default 50-25-25% slices and made 3 parts. It lasted me a very long time after installing an OS on C: and having 2 more letters D: E: to install games & or office prgz. And plenty of storage space too.

My friend has always liked Linux and has shown me a few Releases that he picked up. Well, if I want to see it up and running I have to create a partition on my puter. Linux worked, I like the new interface. I love the fact that there is 4 main Desktops (being a OS/2 head from late 80's & a BBS fReAk from the early 80's). Need less to say I formated my HD after installing it. then installed another release but forgot NOT to install the LiLo, duh. well it locked on to the C: and that's that.

I format about every 6 months. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif
I scan & defrag every 2-5 days.
I tweak on a daily basis. if it's not broken Tweak it!!!

peace.
ps. can't wait for more linux

[Blazer]

I probably format my hard drive only one time a year, or if windows realy screws up, Unless I am changing my os,I do it then.

[cptblah]

I can't imagine reformating my HD unless I install another OS. Defrag, Regedit, Regclean, Virus Scan, deleting ~ and .tmp files is all you need to do. I have a little maintenance batch file that I fire off once a week to do that. I agree that any good computer has a system partition that is totally distinct from file partitions. I do not, however, subscribe to the notion that programs should reside on a partition separate from windows. I keep a downloads folder on a non-system partition for easy recovery should I have a failure. I haven't had one in five years...that's counting the hundred's of servers I take care of at work and my home servers and workstations. I use windows 98,NT,2K, and ME. Maybe I'm just lucky. But I read the event logs and learn to fix the problems and keep my bios, OS and other programs current.

[prttybean]

Windoze- When I upgrade
Linux- When I want to try a different flavor. So, frequently.

I do have to admit though, sometimes I rather reformat then delete all the little stuff that accumulates over time.

[Icychris4u]

Formatting often can cause no harm at all. But you have lots of options other than formatting a harddrive when you are reinstalling any Windows based OS. I myself keep on changing OS each and every month. I am not happy with any Windows version as such. Every version SUCKS.

But the best to be on any PC is no doubt Win95.

Anyway, I do the following every month to change reinstall OS's. Since I am not very happy with any versions I switch between Windows 95,98,98se,Me, 2000 after every 1 month.

The procedure I adopt to reinstall any one of these are .
1. Enter into DOS( Normal DOS not MSDOS Prompt).
2. Enter Smartdrv 32000 (For faster disk access). That's a dos command.
3. attrib -r -h -s *.* Hope u know what it does.
4. del *.* (for deleting all files in root folder)
5. deltree *.* (deletes all directories in the drive)
6. go to the windows setup folder or change drive to Windows CDROM drive and then setup.

You don't need to format all the time to install any new OS. Just need to follow certain simple procedures.

Till next time chao!!

Bye.

[bighogjeep]

Reformatting makes my 3dmark scores go up. U can gain upto 500 to 700 pts with fresh registry and windows and drivers. I thinks thats a nice performance boost and it only takes 40 minutes or less to format and load windows.

[deob197]

I installed win nt4 18 months ago and haven't had any problems with it since, it doesn't even crash. I don't use any disk tools, or anything - perhaps I should.

I don't know how you guys and gals find the time to do all this re-formatting!

[doggybag2]

I used windows explorer to copy the whole win98se cdrom to another partition on a 13 gig drive, flushed the c:drive and did another install from that partition. was very fast and has worked for a month with all apps