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  • #2104825

    Reformatting or not That’s the question?

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    by redray1 ·

    We have a home computer, use by three family member. I regularly run scandisk and defrag. My 15 yr old recon we should cleanup by reformating and start fresh. I say run scandisk and defrag, leave the rest as is… please help.

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    • #3759449

      Reformatting?

      by generalist ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      I’d stick with the scandisk and defrag unless you are having major problems with the system. Even then, make sure that you have very good backups of the operating system, your application software and your data. And be prepared to spend a long, long time getting things right.

      I have heard of instances where organizations reformat drives and restore everything from backup. Of course those organizations are dealing with business systems, not PCs.

      You might ask your 15 year old why they think reformatting is ‘better’ than other approaches. If it is because there are fewer interruptions caused by defrag, you may want to introduce them to the interruptions caused by reinstalling applications software or going through the backup and restore process.

      • #3794578

        Reformat ???

        by mtberjim ·

        In reply to Reformatting?

        I only read one reply from generalist@hotmail.com and he nailed it unless you have problems you have not mentioned scandisk and defrag. If you are board and need something new, Go buy Norton system works. That will give you plenty to tweek. Clean out your start up folder, Win 98 go to run and type msconfig. just don’t stop system folders. Jim D.

    • #3673050

      Reformating:o)

      by ilya ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      If you don’t have too much software installed on your system then it is not a bad Idea to reformat your system once in a while because it helps you to keep track of everything that you have on your system and how to reinstall the software that you have just incase. Also just because you do scandisk and defrag is not going to help you all the time because if your registry gets messy then you will have bigger problems then you would want. Also defrag sometimes gives it’s own problems if you are using win95/98.

      Good luck.

    • #3672980

      I walk down the middle on this one

      by bjp56 ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      I agree with what both of the other two contributors say. But, it’s a very personal thing and depends on the individual’s computer. If you have a lot of software and files, especially files that are not easily copied and transferred, then Scandisk/Defrag would be better to go with untill you have real uncontrolable problems. If you don’t have that much software/files, and the files you need to backup are easily backed up and transfered, then reformatting is better. Remember that if you backup your whole sytem, reformat and restore your old system, you may just reinstall the problems you had. So if your reformating, do everything from new. Probably the safest thing is to scandisk/defrag. Stay non-evasive as long as you can, but don’t overly sacrafice for it either.

    • #3672979

      I walk down the middle on this one

      by bjp56 ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      I agree with what both of the other two contributors say. But, it’s a very personal thing and depends on the individual’s computer. If you have a lot of software and files, especially files that are not easily copied and transferred, then Scandisk/Defrag would be better to go with untill you have real uncontrolable problems. If you don’t have that much software/files, and the files you need to backup are easily backed up and transfered, then reformatting is better. Remember that if you backup your whole sytem, reformat and restore your old system, you may just reinstall the problems you had. So if your reformating, do everything from new. Probably the safest thing is to scandisk/defrag. Stay non-evasive as long as you can, but don’t overly sacrafice for it either.

    • #3672926

      Reformat.

      by greggen ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      I like the reformat approach. While it can be a slight pain to reinstall the software, it does seem to improve the operation of the PC. My family and I download lots of software, and the 6 month or 1 yearly reinstall gets rid of all the old crap cluttering up the harddrive and slowing down my PC.
      I did get a little smart over the years. I have a 1 gig data partition, which I keep my permanent stuff on (mail files, bookmarks, documents, downloaded software for installs, ect) If I like something enough, I will copy the install file to the data partition. I also keep a text document in there which lists what programs I install, cd keys, ect.
      I also have this burned to CD.

      Gives me an easy to follow checklist to setup the new os.

    • #3672790

      15 year olds no everything

      by desk23 ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      I guess if you want the chores done, you should follow his instructions. On the other hand, this 51 year old with no children left at home scans & defrags his on a monthly maintenance system. (scandisk, defagment, registry, clean inside the case etc..).
      Virus scaning is another story, update regularily and always check manufacturer site for updates. There was an article on Tech R about maintenance not to long ago.
      You should look for it and let your son read it. Then tell him the grass is to green, go cut it. (humor)

      • #3816026

        I prefer to reformat……

        by jmbeauford ·

        In reply to 15 year olds no everything

        I use ScanDisk and Defrag for regular maitenance on newer systems, but when I run into OS problems or program errors, I find it easier to reformat the drive (after backing up critical data of course). After the install, regular (if not daily) defrags are enough to keep the system clean. However, a nice fresh install allows for the newest drivers to be installed without all the extra registry tags which come along with updates. When you reformat, you can be certain that only the information you want on your drive is there. Rather than a OEM install where there may be pre-configured software and settings of which, you may be unaware. Go ahead. Back it up and reformat that sucker. Good Luck!

        • #3794661

          Have a data partition

          by justinf ·

          In reply to I prefer to reformat……

          Reformat definitely, do it twice a year.
          On my home pcs I always have a second partition or second hard drive to back up onto. I use the second partition/disk for all the stuff I want to keep and just use the first partition for the os and any applications. This saves so much hassle when it comes to rebuilding.

        • #3795510

          Dead on. -nt

          by sirwar ·

          In reply to Have a data partition

          no text.

      • #3794815

        They know more than you think

        by tzapf ·

        In reply to 15 year olds no everything

        I know plenty of 15 year-old’s who have grown up with computers and can build computers and load them from scratch. I’ve got 8 years experience and I can tell you I always choose reformat, it’s easier and it cleans everything up nicely. Defrag andScandisk will only help you for a certain period of time, but after that the garbage on your system will pile so high you need to backup and reformat

      • #3794748

        Family PCs get cluttered…

        by sirwar ·

        In reply to 15 year olds no everything

        If your 51 with no kids there, scandisk probably works fine, but family PCs are another story. All those downloadable browser plug-ins, multimedia drivers and apps, games, instant messaging services, viruses, etc, etc, etc…particularly if said family has broadband. oi.

        I know when I was 15 I reformated every couple months because 15 year olds have a knack for messing with everything, but in the end I am more knowledgable for it.

        As long as he backs everything up on another drive or removeable media, AND he knows about everything involved with reformating(dos commands, setup, drivers, etc.), I say let him do it.

        But hey, what would I know, I’m only 17 😉

    • #3815824

      Check you startup disks before you start

      by kevg ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      A friend of mine used to reformat his drive when it got to about 3/4 full.
      The last time he did this,the stiffy disk for the cd-rom was corrupted with bad sectors. Panic, with no cd-rom software to install he couldn’t access the cd to reinstall. Hewants win95 and not 98.
      I ended up by connecting via serial cable to my computer and running of my cd, running good old dos interlnk/intersrv.
      He no longer reformats, rather bringing it to me to sort out.
      Moral of the story:
      make sure that you basic disks are good before you start, and that inclueds your windows cd’s.

    • #3815812

      A lot of worthwhile work…

      by galamb ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      Provided that you have all your OS disks including a boot disk in case your computer does not boot from a CD, it would probably be a good thing if your having problems. You should also make sure you have all of your program disks so you can re-load them. If you’ve downloaded a lot of programs from the internet that you still wish to use you’ll need them also. Backing up your data is also very important. I would highly recommend partitionig your hard drive and installing the OS on your C drive. Install your data on on your other partitions including your downloaded programs. This will make it easier to re-install your OS at a later date without losing everything like you would if it was all on one drive. The other techs who have responded to your question also have very good ideas and I would recommmend that you consider them as well. As you can see, starting over is quite involved but can be worthwhile especially if your now having problems. If you haven’t already done it; get your family used to making their own personal folders to store data and downloads in in order to make it easier to find and back-up files. It would also be good for you when you try to trouble shoot.

      Good Luck,

      electrojolt

    • #3796237

      To reformat or not

      by ms5655 ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      Unless your having major problems, I’d leave it alone. Reformatting and doing FDISK and retreving (backing up) all those programs is alot of work! If you do, make a new repair disk right before you format.
      Good luck,
      Mike

      • #3795364

        Reformat!

        by dlongan ·

        In reply to To reformat or not

        I have done both scenrios, but get the best results from a fresh reload of the OS. To make this very 6 month event go smoothly I have done the following:

        1. Format / Install OS
        2. Install all the latest hardware drivers
        3. Latest IE version
        4. Latest DirectX
        5. Office Applications
        6. Get everthing working correctly
        7. Used Norton Ghost to create an image of the working system.

        Now I can recreate my base system in under 5 minutes!!

    • #3795338

      Format c: is your friend!

      by devin.ellis ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      After building computers and such I have discovered that there is not much on my hard drive I can’t either live without, re-download, or re-install. I usually back up my email and reformat every other month {or when it crashes 🙂 }. There are a lot of things going on in the background that you may not even know about; it’s beneficial to start fresh every once in awhile in my opinion.

      • #3795065

        It depends

        by generalist ·

        In reply to Format c: is your friend!

        I have to agree that reformatting is a good way of ensuring a clean start. If your environment is such that you can to it on a regular basis, go for it, especially if it eliminates hassles. I’ve done it myself in the right conditions.

        Unfortunately, if I tried reformatting certain family machines on a monthly basis, I’d have to spend far too long reinstalling everything the family considers to be ‘essential’. We have far too many programs and far too many places to store data for me to safely, and effectively, consider that technique.

        So, in the final analysis, it depends upon what you’re doing and what you want. I can live with a lot of the background stuff and occasional glitch as long as rebooting appears to solve things.

        Of course that could change if I found some sort of security leak on the systems. And if that leak send confidential information out, I’d consider adding reformatting to my virus protection measures.

      • #3795044

        Format and regular maintenance is good

        by dennis@l ·

        In reply to Format c: is your friend!

        Since you run scandisk and defrag on a regular basics, then I also suggest reclean from microsoft, search his web site to find it. Delete the *.tmp files and the temporary Internet files.

        Search for files with the CHK extentions, these are filesthat scandisk fornd cross linked. When you start finding a lot of these your OS and applications will not work as effective as they should. Save your data and reformat, insure that you have a boot disk that can give you access to your CD-rom or use a secondary hard drive and copy the OS files to it. I use a second HD easier to yank out and use for other systems and make ghost images for fast recovery.

    • #3794923

      The Re-Format

      by admin ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      is so popular because many people don’t bother to extensively learn how their systems work, and is seldom necessary.

      Arguably it can be more cost effective, depending on the skills of the person maintaining the computer.

      I wouldn’t do it just because “It needs done every so often on a schedule” It doesn’t. This is pure mythology based on a lack of understanding of the system.

      • #3794844

        Hmmm…

        by devin.ellis ·

        In reply to The Re-Format

        Well, I wouldn’t say I don’t know anything about my system(s). I just stated what works for me on my 9.x systems. I do software and other types of testing and sometimes it’s easier to format and start over. I didn’t mean to imply that a home computer necessarily “needs” it every so often, but I’ve also seen users with 35 items in their systray and 95% of resources allocated who could use a fresh HD. Sometimes it is more cost and time effective to re-format. At my job we only re-format (re-image) when absolutely necessary (NT).

        • #3794762

          Yet ANOTHER 2 cents

          by kermit ·

          In reply to Hmmm…

          I’m not a computer professional yet. I’m 18 and I work as a computer repairman in my county. It’s good business for getting ready to go to college. So my opinion might not matter much. But this is what I’ve found.

          Regular maintance has it’s place. I always run scandisk and defrag… But if there are registry problems, HDD problems, or other things like that I always favor backing up and starting over. I have two HDD. A system and data disk. The system disk a small 3G disk and the data disk is a larger 20G disk. This way I can reformat very easily. I used a CD-Burner and created a bootable CD with Windows and all my drivers on it. It’s a CD-RW so when ever I get new drivers I can re-write the cd. I find that this, for me, is the best approach. I generaly have reformat about once every 6 to 8 months.

          Just my experience.

          Bruce Hudgins.

      • #3795725

        win xp

        by reef2 ·

        In reply to The Re-Format

        well how will win xp effect this formating with it’s activating code? Will have to go to MS every time and get another code or can you do it like I did when I installed this build 2505 with one click. Have not tried to reinstall yet. Hope to hear from you

        • #3704763

          I’ve been completely swamped in work….

          by admin ·

          In reply to win xp

          Sorry it’s taken a while to reply.

          Basically, my answer is: “I don’t know” I haven’t installed a final build of XP and reformatted. Probably not a surprise, but I wanted to make it clear that I am speculating here.

          You will very likely get another code the same way after every format. I doubt this will be hard, and is actually encouraging to people like me who enjoy building experimental systems that go up and down several times a day sometimes.

          :>

    • #3794768

      reformatting or not

      by mmaysks ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      If you’re not having any problems, no need to reformat.
      I only reformat a PC if there is an indications of hard disk problem or major registry problem.

      • #3795670

        Heading off problems…

        by lwt ·

        In reply to reformatting or not

        Regular maintenance would do for lengthening times inbetween the reformats.

        Get Norton Utilities and run WinDoctor often; also use Scanreg /fix to keep the registry fit. (this is if you have Win98, and there is a method in Win95 to export and compress the registry, but use Regclean first)

        Run Disk Cleanup in Win98, or use a batch file for getting rid of stuff. (Fred Langa has a nice one called Cleanup.bat)at:

        http://www.langa.com/cleanup_bat_novice.htm

        Purge your browser caches often, check the download folder for unneedables and delete them. It wouldn’t hurt to uninstall programs you barely use. Dump unessentials from the Startup section of msconfig, and if you have items in the taskbar that take up space, right-click them andsee if you can disable them in Options or Properties.

        Organize your Start Menu, placing like apps in group folders.

        Get rid of desk icons of programs that you can access by the Start Menu or command line.

        It may take more time, but become familiar with your computer and discover where things are. Then you could be a better judge of what needs to go.

        Don’t use reformatting as a catch-all; save it for the true emergency (i.e. viruses and botched OS)

        • #3795573

          reformat? Please no.

          by wlowe ·

          In reply to Heading off problems…

          Reformatting a hard disk should be up there with changing the engine on your car when it is not running right.
          As a consultant working on a lot of computers the ONLY times I have reformatted a drive were because of mixed operating systems/ versionsand hard disk errors. Reformatting does two things.
          1. Blank the hard disk.
          2. Lay down the structure for file access use. This part never (or should never) change from when it was formatted the last time.

          The first item above is where the problems come in. It has been my experience that every time a system is reformatted something is lost that should not have been lost. It may be as simple as a dialer configuration/with password that was long forgotten or a spreadsheet that took a year tobuild. Now I know you all will say “backup” and everybody does right? Wrong. Either they were not backing up or they were backing up the wrong things.
          Back to reformatting, your computer is a name brand it usually has a restore disk that reformats and reinstalls the system like it was when it left the factory. This does not include the dialer I mentioned above but it will be just like when you brought it in the door.
          If it is a clone computer you will have much more trouble getting back to the beginning. You will have to find drivers for all of the components in your computer some of which may require removing and tracking down the manufacturer (no easy task).

          My suggestion would be that if you are at a point of reformatting your harddrive you are at the same point as when you think you need your engine replaced in your car, seek professional help. I certainly hope the readers of this don’t think I am trying to drum up more business. I am not, I have more than I can handle fixing reformatted drives.

    • #3725421

      always reformat

      by pxttocyob ·

      In reply to Reformatting or not That’s the question?

      Yes you must reformat to have a system that works. If you don’t then windows will have garbage around to mess things up. It always messes things up by collecting too much junk.
      You have to start over often if you expect it to work at all.

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