How often do you... [Archive] - Official Neocron Forum

Asurmen Spec Op

27-09-05, 00:43

Just some questions:

How often do you Reformat?

How often do you defrag?

I usually reformat every year or so, but I totally forgot to defrag my HDD, Ive had it for a year and a half :/ just doing it now for the first time

eprodigy

27-09-05, 01:42

i actually reformat every few weeks. never defrag.

aKe`cj

27-09-05, 01:47

defrag once a week
1:1 backup once a week
format... not unless something goes really bad - hasnt happened in a long time now.

kurai

27-09-05, 03:04

Defrag system drive every couple of weeks
Other drives have more static file structure, so not so often.

Reformat ?

Never, unless there's a problem with bad blocks that need remapping, or the new OS being installed requires it.

Am I right in thinking you are talking more about bringing an OS back to `virgin` state, rather than for any specific disk hardware reason ?

If so - the answer to that is `almost never` too.
With personal machines I am one of those annoying perfectionist/bloody-minded people that will try and fix the root cause of a system problem in place rather than just reformat/reinstall and hope/pray it automagically fixes whatever the issue was.

I've done some pretty in depth OS `brain surgery` in my time ... including swapping an AMD motherboard/CPU for an Intel P4 setup after it fried, and got the existing Win2K install on disk working again.

It took an awful lot of wading around in registry with a digital chainsaw and crazy glue ;)

Skusty

27-09-05, 09:40

I reformate when my compute fucks up. Other wise = never of both.

Maui

27-09-05, 10:01

I format once in 3 months or somethin, and I had this nice defrag proggy what would defrag my hdds everyday automaticly when I wasnt at home, but I lost it :(

Bugs Gunny

27-09-05, 10:25

Norton Ghost copy once every 6 months.

Glok

27-09-05, 11:41

I defrag when disk access times start bothering me, if I don't notice it, I don't care. I never reformat, my win98 installation lasted 2 years and now I have winXP, with the restore thingamajig I don't think I'll ever have to reformat again. :)

Dribble Joy

27-09-05, 12:07

I havn't reformatted in about 3 years, and as with others, only defrag when the comp starts getting messy and slow.

retr0n

27-09-05, 12:10

I reformate when my compute fucks up. Other wise = never of both.

Same here. If it's working, I don't touch it, once it stops working, I just reinstall.

Xian

27-09-05, 12:32

The hell is the point in formatting once every few weeks? Unless you can't keep the OS afloat for that long. In that case some light reading would be in order, rather than putting the HD through a complete wipe. It doesn't make the drive perform better.

If it stops working... well, google is there for a reason. I only bother to defrag after large installs/when fragmentation gets over about 15%.

[TgR]KILLER

27-09-05, 13:29

i reformat when its really needed (virus / hard ass spyware ). done within an hour but just hate reinstalling all extra stuff i need. but just do it twice a year max.

i defrag every so many months when i think about it i just put it on defrag and let it run during night. comp is always on anyway.

nobby

27-09-05, 14:13

I've never reformatted in 2.5 years of having my PC...

defragged for the first time 4 weeks ago...

is that bad?

Riddle

27-09-05, 14:22

Reformat never. Defrag? Why waste time gaming :D Nah tbh i do this once every 3 months or so over night thats it.

Vae Victis

27-09-05, 14:53

Ive never defragged my PC, format twice..

I got this external harddrive of 120 GB, basically thats my backup.
every file that means something (mainly games/my documents/PSD files/movies/music) is stored on that drive.
that harddrive cant crash :D (I think) so my files are pretty safe in case my PC goes mental and dies on me.

reinstalled windows + everything on my PC like 6 times, due to some problems *cough* vid card *cough*
or programs that ive deleted that wouldnt go out of my registry, so basically they were still taking memory of my drive.. weird shit like that.
(its a dutch pc in case ur wondering wtf is up :()

msdong

27-09-05, 16:10

Just some questions:...

1. no regular base but i think every 1.5 year when i get a new mainboard
2. after a few NC and WoW patches. a clean NC directory makes sync more fun

LiL T

27-09-05, 17:44

I use to reformat once every 2 month but after reading up a bit on keeping the OS in good working order, its now once every 8-10 month or when ever it gets slow as hell.

Don't install shite you get free from the net

Defrag once a week at least

Allways update your virus scanner as soon as you first bootup and connect to the net

Keep your firewall updated

Don't use IE as its a security risk and gets your system clogged up with spyware, get Firefox ftw

You could get norton partition magic, very neat little program safe and easy to use and make the outter section of the hard disk (first partition on the disk) where you keep your swap file at a set size so it don't get fragmented. Also keep your games installed on that partion (fastest part of the disk) so 15GB is a good size imo, depends how many games you have :) The second partion place the OS on it and nothing else expect virus scanner and firewall software. This keeps your disk in order and unfragmented

Some programs you could download and keep backups of are.

AVG free edition virus scanner
Zonealarm free version firewall

As well as that handy Windows SP2 CD ^^

Xeno LARD

27-09-05, 22:54

naimex

28-09-05, 00:07

when it fucks up so badly that there is no salvation in sight.

eprodigy

28-09-05, 00:33

i just do so many diff things and get so much crap installed and junk filling up and slowing my computer that it's a LOT easier to just format (10min) then try to clean it out and im very lazy.

i have a second drive in that i store work/music on so i dont lose it.

ZoVoS

28-09-05, 03:24

never defrag, fromat every 30 days when my windows activation runs out

its an official vertion but i use it to remind me to format =]

-=EDIT=- prolly why my NC doesnt have problems compaired to all urs ;)

format and reinstal of xp takes about a hour to get everything in

Glok

28-09-05, 03:36

never defrag, fromat every 30 days when my windows activation runs out

its an official vertion but i use it to remind me to format =]rofl

.

Mill Gates

28-09-05, 05:05

This thread reminds me, i havent defragged in AWHILE. Ill get on that now :D

ZoVoS

28-09-05, 05:13

LMFAO 9 days into my fresh format my hdd is already 16% fragmentd 33% file fragmented

Xeno LARD

28-09-05, 09:25

LMFAO 9 days into my fresh format my hdd is already 16% fragmentd 33% file fragmented

When you format do you do "NTFS (Quick)" or the full fat version?

ZoVoS

28-09-05, 22:15

When you format do you do "NTFS (Quick)" or the full fat version?

i use a NTFS i need it for emule otherwise my hdd would explode

but its not a quick format

u get 5 options

ntfs(quick)
ntfs
fat32 (quik
fat32
leave as is

Judge

28-09-05, 22:54

I got this external harddrive of 120 GB, basically thats my backup.
every file that means something (mainly games/my documents/PSD files/movies/music) is stored on that drive.
that harddrive cant crash :D (I think) so my files are pretty safe in case my PC goes mental and dies on me.

Yeah it can. Its a mechanical drive just like the one inside your box, its just got a caddy around it. In fact, personally I'd think that it'd be more likely to crash as its less protected from movement whilst the harddrive is working.

I've been thinking about getting an external drive myself, just for backups. Maybe a 40-80gb one or something.

Glok

29-09-05, 02:16

If you want a more reliable external drive about all you can do is get a reliable brand and get a 5400 rpm version instead of a 7200 rpm version. The slower drives last longer.