POLL: How often do you reformat your HDD?

[neutralizer]

My comp slows down as the HDD ages with cluttered stuff in it, so I reformat.

 

[bacillus]

4-8 months

 

[VBboy]

Dude, cluttered/fragmented HDs have nothing to do with formatting. You simply need to erase useless files and Defrag (Norton Speed Disk). There is really no reason to format unless you're switching to a different FAT type, e.g. FAT32->NTFS..

 

[Budman]

<< Other, List below. >>



Only when i need to reinstall my OS.

 

[MajesticMoose]

yearly, but that was only once and because i had to get rid of everything to get rid of the system.

m00se

 

[sandorski]

I format when setting up a new drive or when trying a new OS. I never format to unclutter, that seems insane to me. My current 40gb drive has been formated once and will probably get formated(erased) sometime next year when I replace it with something bigger.

 

[HalfCrazy]

The only time I really format my hdd's is when switching OS or when it keeps crashes on me. Since I have a 80gb hdd in my system I really don't want to format that darn thing too much. lol Other then that I delete unwanted files and do a defrag ect. every other week.

 

[VBboy]

MajesticMoose

<< yearly, but that was only once and because i had to get rid of everything to get rid of the system. >>

LOL... once, but yearly?

 

[Aragorn877]

I reformat every time I change my OS and at least once a year. The truth is that I install so much freeware junk on my computer that I am reformatting it every three or four months.

It is all about the Antec cases! Yeah Baby!

 

[neutralizer]

^

 

[Vinny N]

If I'm bored, often, and I'll try a different OS every few hours

When I'm at college with work to do, I only format if I need a stable Windows 2000/Office 97 platform to do papers on

 

[rockhard]

I am feeling that i will never have to reformat for years the way things are going
If i upgrade OS then i use an upgrade install. If i get a new mobo i just do a repair install. If i get a new HD i just Ghost.
I hate resetting all my desktop/files/folders/settings to the point where i try to avoid doing so at all costs.

 

[gogeeta13]

I guess it's that time of the 3 months again...

 

[neutralizer]

I reformat right after the school year so I can get a kick @$$ system for fragging over the summer. Besides, I have way too much cluttered junk.

 

[robg1701]

I answered 2-4 months since thats what has been the average over the couple years ive had this machine. But, ill almost never format another drive for quite some time:


Just spent the day reinstalling and tweaking out a new instal of WinXP...hacking it to get everyones favourites, email, adress books, ICQ, my documents, desktop, etc all into one folder on a partion (same drive, less hassle) other than the OS ones. 98SE+apps (from a previous image set up in similar fashion....been dual booting, but exclusively using just XP, for over a year now though) on a small 2.5GB FAT32 'c' partition. XP on a 10GB NTFS 'd', and a 62GB NTFS storage partition. And on the old drive i havent cleared out yet, 3 more partitions of similar setup except only a 30GB storage bit (only45GB vs 80GB on new drive) but all FAT32.

In the morning (well, its 3:30am...so we'll say in the afternoon ) ill drop into dos armed with Ghost 2002 and make images of the 98 and XP installs and then make up a set of bootable cds. From there on, backup and 'format+reinstall' will take the form of copying the aforementioned folder to the 2nd drive (which will soon be reduced to 2, partitions, small FAT32 and big NTFS) and also to a cd, and then ghosting the image set for the first 2 partitions. This will leave me with a full clean install with all my apps, and because of the way its set up, ill boot to find all my email, favourites, desktop, documents, ICQ, etc exactly as i left them and just continue on working as if nothing had happened. Total time to backup and 'clean install' = ~25mins

 

[JMichna]

At least 2-3 times per year, on my main box (tbird 1.4/768/90gb Raid-0) and about the same on machine #2 (slotA K7 0.85gHz). Just keep "tweaking and fixing" until I bust 'em... then fdisk/format/reinstall... what fun... what joy!!!


jmichna

PS: wife's old Dell 300@330mHz P-II running WMe has only been fisked/formatted a few times, e.g., when moving from W95->W98->W98se->WMe... otherwise, it was never worth tweaking to the breaking point.

 

[corkyg]

The last time I had to reformat any HDD on any of three systems was in 1998. I find no reason to do that. I keep them clean and tidy all the time and never let them get cluttered.

 

[andrey]

I format hard drive only once, when I buy it. I have more useful things to do in my life than reformat hard drives and reinstall OSes every week.

 

[kmike75]

Ok I admit it, I have no life and I format every 4 to 8 months...

 

[pillage2001]

<< Ok I admit it, I have no life and I format every 4 to 8 months... >>



What do you class once a month then?!?

 

[BFG10K]

I only reformat C: when I install an OS, otherwise I never touch it. The last time I did that was when I loaded Windows XP onto my computer.

 

[erikiksaz]

You have the wrong question, it should be, "How often do you f|_|ck up your windows installation?"

For me, i'd say about once every six months or so.

 

[kmike75]

Pillage, Once a month? What do you have a packard bell or something?

 

[VBboy]

LOL... All you freaks who format more than once a year need to stop using your computer, step back and think about what you're doing

 

[tennesota]

I only reformat a drive when I've totally fubar'ed an OS beyond any hope of recovery.