Is formatting TOO often bad?

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Andvari
I've heard that formatting can increase the life of your HD, but what if you format too often? I am probably about to format for the 5th time in the past 3 months or so. I've gotten so proficient at it, I would rather format when I find an unsolvable problem than take the time to search for a solution.

So is it bad or does is not effect it either way?

haha, I feel the same way sometimes. buy ghost and use it with your dvd burner.

sometimes I download program betas or demos or get spyware or whatever and it's just easier to wipe the system than to fix it. ghost lets you do that - basically install windows, download the updates and service pack you need, install the drivers, install your favorite apps, and burn it to a dvd with ghost. a complete ghost on my system takes two dvds for everything (win xp, adobe cs, ms office xp, etc), but it sure takes the hassle out of fixing and maintaining a computer. whenever you encounter a serious problem such as a virus, just pop in the dvds and in less than an hour you have a brand-new system.

also, make backups to CDr at least once a week. this way, if you have to re-ghost your box, your files are current and you won't lose anything but an hour.