Reformatting a lot!

[eli]

I must have reformatted and reinstalled 4 or 5 different OS on my computer, including linux and win2k. I've wiped and erased it many times now. My question is does doing a complete reformat and reinstall affect the integrity of the drive? Will it go "bad" faster?

[windyridge]

i have refomated and installed many os on my parets pc and it has yet to fail it's be going strong for 2 1/2 years now. i think it may but if so not much.

[Diggrr]

Formatting isn't gonna cause the drive die. If you want, you can find utilities on most harddrive maker's sites to do a low level format. This would leave the disk as close to new as possible.
Carefully read the instructions, cause you don't wanna mess up doing this. It'll run in DOS off of a bootable floppy.

I personally, run BCWipe in Windoze. You can right click on a drive in Windoze Explorer, and it gives you an option to "wipe free space". This cleans up any artifacts left from another install or deleted files by writing zeros and ones to the empty spots between files, in the empty sectors and in the swap file too.
It's very safe to use, even on raid drives. I've used it for years.

It gives you another right click option "delete with wiping". Be carefull when you use this, as no public utility can recover a file accidentally deleted using wiping. It's also very hard to stop it once it's running.

I got it on download.com and use it once a week to keep Windoze fresh.

[{PMS}fishy]

Originally posted by Diggrr


I got it on download.com and use it once a week to keep Windoze fresh.

You reformat and reinstall once a week?

[phungilax]

i know a few people that rather than defragging once a month they just reformat.

[Cooler666]

I also format every week, sometimes even twice a week

[Diggrr]

No, I don't reformat and reinstall once a week, BCWipe is a Windoze program. It doesn't hurt anything that's supposed to be installed, just stuff that's supposed to be deleted.

When Windoze deletes a program, it doesn't really move it at all. It just updates the Fat table on the drive, so no programs can access the data anymore. Everything is still there, just no programs can see it. BCWipe overwrites all the deleted stuff with ones and zeros.

[Gandalf]

Where can I get his program?

[Diggrr]

Here (http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10096-100-5801997.html?tag=st.dl.10001-103-1.lst-7-1.5801997) or Here (http://www.jetico.com/download.htm)
It's shareware, but a very fine program!

[{PMS}fishy]

Cool thanks, Ill have to check it out too. Im still a bit confused on how it will make a difference. Does it matter that I am using NTFS as opposed to FAT32?

[Diggrr]

Nope, this new version does 'em all. win2k, nt4, and xp. ntfs or fat. That second link has a downloadable help file. It's on the maker's website.

I have a theory on how it helps Windoze run better. If Win has any hiccup while loading a file (or any other program) then they could start reading old supposedly deleted data along with other files it's supposed to get.
This could also help out defrag in placing the files correctly...I found my used space shrank slightly after running it, so Defrag obviously had issues with files that were supposed to be gone.
This may be why a fresh install always runs better than an older one.

[eli]

Thanks for the replies. I'm not using windows right now (and problably not for awhile). Linux is just too exciting. It's good to know my drive is alright though.

[Yodums]

I only formated once every two weeks and defrag every night long time ago! Now I'm too lazy to reformat, and won't until there's a good enough reason. Just make sure you defrag, its better than reinstalling everything (Esepecially if your on dialup!)

[cyber mouse45]

Originally posted by Cooler666
I also format every week, sometimes even twice a week

Don't you have a lot of stuff you got to reinstall every time you reformat??

[eli]

Originally posted by cyber mouse45


Don't you have a lot of stuff you got to reinstall every time you reformat??

Heck yeah there is. It's not like I choose to reformat every week. It's just that something with my hardware setup that win2k doesn't like.


I HATE reinstalling windows 8 or 9 times a month.

[Stick00]

Originally posted by Yodums
I only formated once every two weeks and defrag every night long time ago! Now I'm too lazy to reformat, and won't until there's a good enough reason. Just make sure you defrag, its better than reinstalling everything (Esepecially if your on dialup!)

eheh ya dial up makes me never want to reformatt . to long to get my files back "but cable is only 2 months away " oh ya

[cyber mouse45]

Yeah, I don’t like to reformat unless I really have to, cuz I got about 57 gigs of stuff I got to put back on every time. :eek:

[JigPu]

And my HD is only 12 gigs! :cool: Guess it is good in some strange way to have outdated hardare!! :D :beer:

JigPu

[AMD'er]

to those that reformat 1 or 2 times a week. While your sys is up and running Create a Programs Folder. When you download all the latest drivers, patches, and everything else you have downloaded. Then burn this folder to a CD so each time you reformat, just pop in the CD and you have all your latest updates. I alway make a backup copy of my Extra Program folder so if I ever have to reformat, I don't have to try and remeber every program I had on the drive.

Makes life a whole lot easier :)

I Hate to Reformat, to much stuff to reinstall

[{PMS}fishy]

Too bad you cant put windows updates on cds. Like SP2, that one is a pain. Oh well, Im sure there is a way.

[MoPMatrix]

Why don't u guys just do a clean format, install all ur stuff get it running nice.
Then ghost the drive =)
use nortons ghost or something, that way when u wana reformat it only takes like 10 min and everything is already installed when ur done =)
Like instant instaltion, its great!

[Diggrr]

That's what I do, I use the Ghost Explorer to span the image to two cd's cause I got a lot of goodies to rewrite to the drive.
I have to do this everytime I get feeling masocistic and install XP...the usual, it throws itself on it's sword, and I reinstall my ghost backup.
I use cd-rw's too so I can update the backup if need be. I use Norton's Utilities to undo all the nastiness that XP does to the drive. This last one, it messed up the boot sector, but not enough to prevent booting (dodged that bullet.)

[eli]

Originally posted by {PMS}fishy
Too bad you cant put windows updates on cds. Like SP2, that one is a pain. Oh well, Im sure there is a way.

I have SP2 on cd. I just downloaded it as a compressed file and stuck it onto my cd. Its about 110 megs.

[AMD'er]

You know, I have some image software but I haven't taken the time to setup my image the way I would like to. I gues the next time I have to format (which I hope is a long time from now) I will take the time to do so.