What does reformatting a hard drive accomplish that del *.* doesn't?

[Spoooon]

Why would you choose reformatting as opposed to just deleting everything?

 

[Stormblade]

Sometimes reformatting corrects certain errors. Also I know in the old days we reformated to ensure our data was really gone. Course now you have unformat you have wipe utilities, etc.

So the only reasons I reformat is when I'm re-partitioning my drives. Other than that I just delete things.

 

[Budman]

Because format c:/q is so much faster than Deltree windows.

 

[Spoooon]

True, it's faster, but there are directories I'd like to save. I was just wondering if there were benefits to formatting.

 

[Z24]

I don't format when doing a reinstall... just wipe windows, and program files.

If you load smartdrv first, deltree windows doesn't take all that long.

 

[Whitedog]

Unless you were having disk error's and problems with files getting crossed linked, there is No reason to format. Especially if you have data you want to keep.

 

[BigLance]

I heard that formatting "excites" certian parts of your drive that noramally aren't used and is actually "good" for it once and while.... I guess it couldn't hurt

 

[Z24]

It doesn't hurt... just takes a lot longer if you have to back your stuff up somewhere (unless you have another HD that will hold it all). Sending GB's over a network takes a while.