View Poll Results: Do you format?

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  • 2+ a year

    5 19.23%
  • Couple of times a year

    11 42.31%
  • Once a year

    3 11.54%
  • No - Hardly ever

    7 26.92%
  • Nope Never - too scared

    0 0%
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Thread: Formating.

  1. #1
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    Formating.

    I just wondered if anyone here formats there system every 6 months or so just to get a clean slate to work with.

    I just did mine and it only took about 2 hr this time (appart from dling all the MS updates).
    Last edited by Devilbod; 19-06-2004 at 12:59 AM.

  2. #2
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    usually every 4 months. or when i put a fair amount of new hardware in

  3. #3
    Ex-MSFT Paul Adams's Avatar
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    Only when performing major upgrades, which usually involves a new HDD or PC.

    I'm very careful with what I install, so it's easy to keep my systems clean and performing well.

    I also take Ghost images periodically, so if I did have some horrible disk failure or system corruption I can restore inside 20 minutes.

    I hate having to reconfigure everything from scratch on a rebuild.
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  4. #4
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    I don't ever format my whole drive... the root and /usr partitions are replaced about once a year on most of my systems, when either i've upgraded a lot of hardware or apt/emerge breaks bad and i cba to fix it.

  5. #5
    wibble
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    I format when ever I install a new mobo (usually 2-3 times a year) or whenever things get a bit crappy/slow.
    However I have seperate drives for o/s' and that is what gets formatted, so its not a huge deal.
    When I install a new mobo and have a fresh o/s install I ghost the drive so I can re-image it back from that in about 15mins - saves alot of time and hassle

  6. #6
    Suck, Squish, Bang, Blow
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    I only format my hard drive when things go very very slow or I have a horrible problem that I can't fix. But that was before I met Hexus, so maybe I never have to format ever again.
    You've got to have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?

  7. #7
    Member Trash Man's Avatar
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    Do mine when I feel it needs it. So that's prolly every 8-10 months, I save all the cfg files for the programmes I use, so that when it comes to reinstall windows I can have it running as usual within a couple of hours.

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  8. #8
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    If nothing goes wrong it would be every 6-9 months I'd say.

    But so far I've needed to format this computer 3 times since Christmas
    Two of those were hardware related problems but I usually end up with a lot of unused programs installed after about 6 months .
    Curiosity killed the cat eh.

  9. #9
    Blue Army Member spazman's Avatar
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    Id say once ever 6 months or so, when it starts to chugg basically.
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  10. #10
    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Usually two or three times a year. Two if I can help it: Once to speed up and totally reconfigure the system (possibly due to upgrade) and a second time half way through the year when something breaks...
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  11. #11
    Spider pig, spider pig
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    Can hardly ever be bothered, only if it really needs it will I bother..

  12. #12
    Flak Monkey! Dorza's Avatar
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    Usually do a format every 3 or 4 months, just to completely clean the system out.

  13. #13
    "Are you local?" Ravens Nest's Avatar
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    I just delete a few folders i.e. Windows, documents and setting, Some folders inside Program files and any old junk files i dont want.

    Then i install windows and it does not detect an operating system and install's a whole new copy

    That way i keep all my MP3, Games, drivers and utilities

    I do this once every 3-6 months depending on how much of a mess windows is in at the time.. oh and i also export Registry files for some of my games so i dont need to re-install them utilities i just re-install.
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  14. #14
    Chaos Monkey Apex's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devilbod
    I just wondered if anyone here formats there system every 6 months or so just to get a clean slate to work with.

    I just did mine and it only took about 2 hr this time (appart from dling all the MS updates).

    Bout every 6 months or so depending on how i feel.

    www.autopatcher.com for all yor xp patching needs



  15. #15
    Asking silly questions menthel's Avatar
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    Only when I muck something up, like when i got my shuttle, but then the hard
    drive gave out! Man that was annoying. Oh well, it works well now, until I balls it up again I guess.
    Not around too often!

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