How often do you format?

[timme]

Only if I have to, mostly with new hardware or drastic system changes. The times of regular re-installs are over in my opinion.

 

[guppy]

Same as person above. Setting up my PC with all the software and games I have is just too time consuming so avoid format as much as possible now. When Win7 is released I will do a format then.

 

[lodingi]

After that, I do plan to build a nice i7 box with 24GB of RAM in it and that's going to be my primary machine for the next 2 years or so, with one installation of Windows 7 x64, and most of that RAM assigned to RAMdisk duties for testing out entire installations of any OS I care to throw at it.

Not to hijack this thread but......how's that "Ramdisk Manifesto" coming along?

 

[Mithent]

I format whenever my Windows install breaks, so not very often. The last time I re-installed Windows Vista on this machine was when my hard drive broke, and that was at least a good 8 months ago.

Likewise; I never format if it's not unavoidable. I've never reinstalled Vista on this machine, which is about 1.5 years old, nor Windows XP on my laptop before. I did have to do it to Windows 2000 due to a motherboard upgrade, and to a Windows 95 machine on which the hard drive was killed by Scandisk (and I never used 98). I don't usually make dramatic changes to machines - if such a large change is required, it's basically a new build.

 

[anime4u]

I only format when I install a new motherboard.

 

[maddude]

When I install a new OS or build a new computer. What are you guys messing up that you need to format every six months?

 

[Ehren8879]

When I install a new OS or build a new computer. What are you guys messing up that you need to format every six months?

Unfortunate accidents due to tweaking and software testing.

 

[Gorankar]

Unfortunate accidents due to tweaking and software testing.

As well as the occasional data corruption due to an overly aggressive OC attempt.