Poll: how often do you format ?
- Thread starter anton
- Start date
dcdomain
Diamond Member
- Jan 30, 2000
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Oyeve don't know if you are being saracastic or not, but that's when you wipe your harddrive clean... (by the way, your rig id ain't working).
I usually format about every six months, depending when a new OS comes out. So when Whistler debuts, I'll be formatting. Until then, I think Win2K is stable enough to get me to that point. I had to format three times in less than two weeks when I first installed Win2K because of registry corruption.
By the way, where's the poll?
I usually format about every six months, depending when a new OS comes out. So when Whistler debuts, I'll be formatting. Until then, I think Win2K is stable enough to get me to that point. I had to format three times in less than two weeks when I first installed Win2K because of registry corruption.
By the way, where's the poll?
It is good practice to format at least once a year to get rid of all those orphaned dll files, registry entries, and the like.
I'm a bit of an extremist when it comes to formating in the past few months. I had 98, wiped that to put ME on there. What a POS. Deleted in a few days. Put 2000 on, stable as hell, kept it on there for the past few months. Then I got the bright idea of putting Whistler beta on my drive. FOR the love of your system--DON'T! Its back to 2000 for me.
-Jim
-Jim
Historically I've done a format-reinstall every six to nine months. However, w/ this current Win98 Original setup, I'm going on 15 months, and it's steadier than any OS I've ever had.
What I want to do (and secretly wish it would crash on me) is do a format-reinstall and Ghost an image of my C drive (after Win98 install, along w/ updates and drivers) to a CD-R. Then when I need/want to do a format-reinstall I can simply format and Ghost over the image from the CD-R to the hard drive.
What I want to do (and secretly wish it would crash on me) is do a format-reinstall and Ghost an image of my C drive (after Win98 install, along w/ updates and drivers) to a CD-R. Then when I need/want to do a format-reinstall I can simply format and Ghost over the image from the CD-R to the hard drive.
<< What I want to do (and secretly wish it would crash on me) is do a format-reinsatll and Ghost an image of my C drive (after Win98 install, along w/ updates and drivers) to a CD-R. Then when I need/want to do a format-reinstall I can simply format and Ghost over the image from the CD-R to the hard drive. >>
that's what I plan to do next week...I'm not using a CDR, just a different partition, but that's what I'm doing...
Uhmm I format every 2-3 months probably.
What is with everyone putting the word Poll: at the start of thier title...don't you people know what the Poll tool is?
yeah, poll tool you fool's
i formated about a month and half ago, installed 98se, win 2k, beos, whistler, all runn smoothly, before had a 2-3yr old win98se install (had been 95, then 98 but no format, just install over)
if you know what your doing, even if you have to share a machine with an idiot (my server i have to let my bro use) every day he's tried some new piece of hardware, or some software that possess's the heck out of it, and i've learned to clean up after him, and it works OK
i formated about a month and half ago, installed 98se, win 2k, beos, whistler, all runn smoothly, before had a 2-3yr old win98se install (had been 95, then 98 but no format, just install over)
if you know what your doing, even if you have to share a machine with an idiot (my server i have to let my bro use) every day he's tried some new piece of hardware, or some software that possess's the heck out of it, and i've learned to clean up after him, and it works OK
Never formatted my home rig: OSR2. I have gotten new HD's a couple times, and always just swept the old contents onto the new HD. I've upgraded the motherboard several times, and always managed to get everything smoothed out without needing to format.
The reason I do not like to format is because I would lose all the tweaks to my system and to my programs, plus you would lose all your email archives (unless you back them up to CD or something). I mean, like all your bookmarks, your game configurations, registry tweaks...all of this would be wiped out in a reformat, unless you back it up to CD. But then again, if the person backs up registry tweaks to CD, isn't that kind of defeating the purpose of the reformat?
I keep an extra copy of my Windows directory in case anything goes horribly wrong. This has saved me on numerous occasions. Just rename the directory, and you are back in business where you were a month ago or so.
Seems to me there would be two reasons folk would format:
- The person enjoys tinkering with the PC because it is his hobby (kind of like taking apart your car and reassembling it). In this case there is no real point to it, other than that the person enjoys the hobby, which is fair enough.
- or, the person reformats because it is a relatively easy way to resolve conflicts, such as when upgrading an OS, or upgrading a motherboard or HD. In this case, reformatting is kind of like a clumsy brutal way to solve the problem (like leveling your house to fix a leaky roof), and if the person had more savvy and more patience, he could get everything working fine without needing to reformat.
The reason I do not like to format is because I would lose all the tweaks to my system and to my programs, plus you would lose all your email archives (unless you back them up to CD or something). I mean, like all your bookmarks, your game configurations, registry tweaks...all of this would be wiped out in a reformat, unless you back it up to CD. But then again, if the person backs up registry tweaks to CD, isn't that kind of defeating the purpose of the reformat?
I keep an extra copy of my Windows directory in case anything goes horribly wrong. This has saved me on numerous occasions. Just rename the directory, and you are back in business where you were a month ago or so.
Seems to me there would be two reasons folk would format:
- The person enjoys tinkering with the PC because it is his hobby (kind of like taking apart your car and reassembling it). In this case there is no real point to it, other than that the person enjoys the hobby, which is fair enough.
- or, the person reformats because it is a relatively easy way to resolve conflicts, such as when upgrading an OS, or upgrading a motherboard or HD. In this case, reformatting is kind of like a clumsy brutal way to solve the problem (like leveling your house to fix a leaky roof), and if the person had more savvy and more patience, he could get everything working fine without needing to reformat.
btw, my home rig is like 5 or 6 years old by now. I upgrade it bit by bit, and none of the original components are still in it, but I have never reformatted. It runs well and gives high performance:
- Thunderbird 800
- MSI K7T Pro
- V3 (still rockin'!)
- MX300
- Cambridge 4.1 speakers
- 12.7 GB HD (latest in a long line of HD's)
In CS I get 99 fps with no players in view, or around 70 with folk in view, or 30 in a big firefight.
In UT I get average of 70+ on Face with 20 players. On DM maps, 100+ fps.
- Thunderbird 800
- MSI K7T Pro
- V3 (still rockin'!)
- MX300
- Cambridge 4.1 speakers
- 12.7 GB HD (latest in a long line of HD's)
In CS I get 99 fps with no players in view, or around 70 with folk in view, or 30 in a big firefight.
In UT I get average of 70+ on Face with 20 players. On DM maps, 100+ fps.
hehe
u guys probably won't believe this
but i haven't formatted in 3 years!
teehee
anyways, i'm formatting this weekend....cuz i FINALLY got my win98se cd!
u guys probably won't believe this
but i haven't formatted in 3 years!
teehee
anyways, i'm formatting this weekend....cuz i FINALLY got my win98se cd!
I do it whenever I'm bored. Sometimes twice a week. Takes me about 23-27 minutes to install os then about 30-37 minutes to install the games/programs I use and download all the updates. I think the longest I have ever gone without formating was a full month.
i used to do it every 6 months when i had win98
but with win2000...almost a yr now...still run good and smooth
but with win2000...almost a yr now...still run good and smooth
<< like leveling your house to fix a leaky roof >>
EXACTLY!
What do you people use your computers for that you can just reformat and not miss any of the data you just destoryed? Sure, if the only thing i used my computer for was gaming, no big loss. However I have always found it quicker and much more rewarding to fix system problems without formatting and needing to reinstall all of the software I regularly use. Also, one quickly sharpens their troubleshooting skills in the process.
My definition of a "system" is the hard drive contents(software and data), not the hardware. Different hardware only enhances the performance of my system. I have kept the same system through several hard disks, motherboards, videocards, and a host of other components over the course of the last 4 years. I have upgraded from Win95 to 98 and from a VXTwo to a BX then to a KT133 chipset ALL without a single format/reinstall. My overclocked KT7-Raid crashes maybe once a month tops.
If one is careful about keeping their system clean, there is absolutely no reason to format every Full Moon like some people that have already posted believe.
What are you people doing to your computers?? I installed Win 95B on a socket 7 MB in 1998. I copied the drive to a larger drive that year. I moved the drive to a BX chipset MB. I upgraded to Win98SE. I moved the drive to amother BX board. I copied the drive to two different partitions of a 40 GB drive set up as a dual boot of Win 98 for work and Win 98 for the Kid. No problems. Rick.
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