New Year.....clean HD

The new year is fast approaching..and with it ...my new format ....i did take measures last time to ghost my clean drive after the last format...but its like a tradition to start the new year off with a clean machine ...

so Do you have anything you do ....on a regular basis like that?

Yep repartioning my drive is always done too but during the summer!

I've been after a reformat on both these beasts for awhile. New Year sounds like just the time to do it, thanks for the idea

I typically do it whenever I install a bad driver.

But since I've not had to re-install Windows for a number of months now, I figure I should.

Maybe I'll just install a scratch version on the free space on my Seagate [for speedy recovery purposes, with all the essentials] and go back to booting the current installion from my Samsung. The over 2 year old Sammy is showing better health than the 8 month old Seagate, anywho...

I usually only reformat when Windows becomes corrupt due to too many programs being tested (clogging the registry) or from a nasty trojan that can't be removed fairly easily. I'll also reformat if I need a pristine system for a beta test cycle, so one can be sure that any bugs seen are not caused by conflicts with other programs. (That phase of beta testing comes later.)

Best way to reformat is to save all important data to disc or another HDD (careful if using any logical partitions on the same physical drive -- some restoration apps will call the entire physical drive "C:" and wipe out any logical partitions!), and then from an image you created when the system was new (with all your favorite programs installed, updates/drivers current and preferences set) you can perform the restoration.

not a bad idea

i usually try to do a clean install of windows "1 time per year" (sometimes more as it just depends of my system gets out of whack)

although the last time i did a clean install was back in Aug 2nd 2006 ... so in other words it's been exactly 1 year and 4months to the day (i know this cause i goto command prompt and type in dir and hit enter and check the dates on autoexec.bat and config.sys files, since these never generally get modified unless u wipe out the system and start over)

but that 1 year and 4 months thing is quite a long time for me (maybe even a record lol) ... cause a few years back or so i used to clean install about 1 time per 6months TOPS lol

You must be "living right" to have Windows "last" that long...

With XP I'm doing well if I can go six months; during heavy program testing or exploring the outer reaches of cyber space it might only last several weeks. But that's the beauty of having system restoration image: no matter how bad things get, you are only minutes away from a clean installation, and you are spared having to reinstall Windows and each program one at a time.

I never reinstall a clean Windows.

By imaging the Windows installation regularly and returning to the last good image after testing some crappy software, it's not necessary to start from scratch.

BTW does a clean harddrive mean that you cannot have any dirty pictures on it?

Nope. Just means your hard drive is all shined up, with its AAM on [to avoid embarrassing noises], and ready to go on its first date with its RAID partner.

I haven't formatted in about 18 months on my other PC

I'm still shocked none of my software has gone belly up yet

Just did mine in October, went dual boot XP and openSUSE this time. Being extremely cautious with these installs though, trying to keep them bloat free.

it means there is room for MORE dirty pictures

Na, can't be asked myself, everything is still running fine.

I just reload from an image if something gets pissy. Takes 5 minutes.

If you´re doing this from a dirty image, please wash your hands afterwards

I use the cop-out method...did mine from the recovery discs after making a 1:1 copy of all important current data, and only reinstalling required software...this lil lappy runs better now than when it was new...even MS Office works correctly now.

Note: can´t recommend CCleaner highly enough...run it every day! And a nice defrag once a month to keep the pipes clean

I usually spray a whole 12 oz. can of air to my pc's every 3 months. And my pc's are not on the floor.

As far as reformat..........naaa

All of us here on the forum are to Formal to have dirty pictures on our computers right? LOL

I'm going to! Sheesh stop bugging me!

BREAKING NEWS


Well done everyone
The Freaks website will now be closed and we can all get some well deserved rest

LOL!!

I haven't reinstalled my XP in about 5 years i guess. It still works okay (except it could work faster).

I only reinstall when it's totally crashed. I usually make a new nLite ISO, including all the necessary patches, unattended install, getting rid of all the unnecessary software and do a major part of the tweaking.

It takes a lot of time and effort to make a perfect XP, but installing it only takes ten minutes.

I don't reinstall unless I need too. I have clone back ups of all computers in this house. You can't be too careful.
Burn On,
Russell

I'm having too much trouble backing up the stuff I'm supposed to back up to bother about reinstalling my linux install

im gunna be formatting the X2 rig this weekend as its in desperate need of it plus i want rid of my stuff on it before it changes hands to my brother