Why are people formatting on a clean install of win7

[Xarick]

I thought custom install did a clean install without formatting?
I just deleted everything off the drive outside of windows, did custom install. It wiped my windows folder and installed a fresh new windows 7. Then I reinstalled all my programs.
So why are people formatting? What is the benefit?

 

[Griswold]

They're taking no chances.

 

[pcgeek11]

I thought custom install did a clean install without formatting?
I just deleted everything off the drive outside of windows, did custom install. It wiped my windows folder and installed a fresh new windows 7. Then I reinstalled all my programs.
So why are people formatting? What is the benefit?

Formatting only takes a few extra seconds.

 

[corkyg]

What you did amounts to the old DELTREE method. Formatting is the only TRUE clean install. IOW, everything has to be clean - no unwanted residue.

 

[manko]

It makes troubleshooting easier if you ever run into problems. You don't have to wonder about leftover files.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Rather start off with a clean slate if reinstalling. I always format when I reinstall Windows, unless I'm troubleshooting a serious issue and want to try to bandaid fix it by installing over or repairing. If my own PC is screwed up enough for me to need to do that, I may as well clean install, but for other people I usually just install over.

Come to think of it, I have not reformatted my machine in YEARS. I remember when I had win98 I had to do it once a week as it would start to "wear out" and start having lot of issues.

 

[jjmIII]

why is it an option?

 

[SimMike2]

I think Windows 7 custom install wipes out almost everything, almost as much as formatting. While I agree that former version of Windows would leave a bunch of junk in inconvient places, I think Windows 7 moves all possible offending material to windows.old. Just my opinion. The only think you have to do is delete the windows.old directory when you decide you don't want or need anything else in there.

 

[rcpratt]

I think Windows 7 custom install wipes out almost everything, almost as much as formatting. While I agree that former version of Windows would leave a bunch of junk in inconvient places, I think Windows 7 moves all possible offending material to windows.old. Just my opinion. The only think you have to do is delete the windows.old directory when you decide you don't want or need anything else in there.

That's fine, but most people don't want to assume or take chances when doing a clean install. It takes an extra ten seconds to format and do a clean install.

 

[Xarick]

I actually didnt see the advanced / format option when did my install, but when I was done I went into dos mode and walked through to see what was left. Windows 7 took everything and packed it into windows.old which I promptly deleted. I didn't find anything left. Of course I had formatted a few months ago when I put in the new drive. You guys think I am safe? Or should I do it again with a format. I kinda hate to since I spent 6 hours getting my computer all set back up again.

 

[manko]

I formatted, but it sounds like a lot of people are just doing a straight upgrade without any problems. Most of the issues I've read about have been during the upgrade process itself. Since you've installed without a hitch, you'll probably be okay.

Formatting is just for that extra piece of mind of starting from a clean slate, so you know that if you start getting BSODs or mysterious glitches, they aren't caused by remnants of the old system.

 

[Mem]

I formatted, but it sounds like a lot of people are just doing a straight upgrade without any problems. Most of the issues I've read about have been during the upgrade process itself. Since you've installed without a hitch, you'll probably be okay.

Formatting is just for that extra piece of mind of starting from a clean slate, so you know that if you start getting BSODs or mysterious glitches, they aren't caused by remnants of the old system.

I have done two upgrades from Vista HP to Win7 Ultimate,no issues ,very smooth and nippy,I'm still waiting for my very first BSOD on either of them.

 

[Shlong]

I have done two upgrades from Vista HP to Win7 Ultimate,no issues ,very smooth and nippy,I'm still waiting for my very first BSOD on either of them.

I've done three upgrades from Vista Ultimate to Windows7 Ultimate (desktop, macbook pro bootcamp, and dell laptop). Took a while but everything went smooth without an issue (the macbook pro I had to uninstall bootcamp drivers). All 3 machines run fine without a hitch.

 

[Jaskalas]

I think Windows 7 custom install wipes out almost everything, almost as much as formatting. While I agree that former version of Windows would leave a bunch of junk in inconvient places, I think Windows 7 moves all possible offending material to windows.old. Just my opinion. The only think you have to do is delete the windows.old directory when you decide you don't want or need anything else in there.

I did a "custom install" from WinXP Pro to Win7 Home. I lost zero files. You may want to rethink your statement unless you are speaking from experience.

Yes, it is moved to the windows.old directory. That's a lot different than a format.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Come to think of it, how is it possible to not format? Doesn't windows 7 use a totally different file system? Or does it convert first?

 

[Modelworks]

One reason is because win7 will create two partitions , one it uses for everyday use and the other is a small 100MB partition that it stores the boot files and some recovery tools. It cannot do this if the partition is already in use.

Also windows format erases nothing, not even full format. The difference is quick format just erases the file table that tells what sector the files are located at. Full format checks to see if each sector is readable, but doesn't write anything. If you don't think the drive has bad sectors then quick format is just as good as full format for performance or getting rid of junk. If windows doesn't know where the old programs start and stop it can't load them, so any problems like virus, spyware, junk are moot.

I think people like the idea that somehow format is cleaning up a mess.

Format in things like linux actually erase each sector.

 

[Nothinman]

Format in things like linux actually erase each sector.

No, generally, it doesn't. There's some special commands like fdformat and sg_format that will do a real, full format on a floppy or SCSI device, respectively. But the commands for creation of the filesystem don't do any of that. They just create a new filesystem like a NTFS quick format in Windows. Most of them don't even have the option for a bad block check built into them.

Come to think of it, how is it possible to not format? Doesn't windows 7 use a totally different file system? Or does it convert first?

No, there's no new filesystem, Win7 only supports NTFS and FAT out of the box, just like every other NT release.

 

[Modelworks]

No, generally, it doesn't. There's some special commands like fdformat and sg_format that will do a real, full format on a floppy or SCSI device, respectively. But the commands for creation of the filesystem don't do any of that. They just create a new filesystem like a NTFS quick format in Windows. Most of them don't even have the option for a bad block check built into them.

The linux equivalent to windows full format command that does block checking would be:

mkfs -t ext3 -c /dev/hda 4096

If you wanted to truly wipe everything you could do :

shred -u -n 1 /dev/hda

Windows really needs a shred command

 

[Nothinman]

The linux equivalent to windows full format command that does block checking would be:

mkfs -t ext3 -c /dev/hda 4096

Only for ext3, which I believe is the only mkfs command that supports badblock checks. And you said they wipe each sector, which isn't true. By default the check badblocks does is read-only.