I used Windows XP 32 for about ten years, reformatting once every six months on average. Been using Windows 7 64 bit for over 5 years and have only reformatted once. However my system is running kind of sluggish recently and I think it's time for a clean flush. Which means it's gonna be a long night, and I really don't mind doing it. So I will probably be offline for a few hours and getting very drunk.
Great question. Like you I formatted my Windows XP and Windows 7 atleast once every 6 months, with Windows 10 its every 1 - 2 years, due to the fact that initial updates on Windows 10 after a fresh install is nearly 40Gbs. After some residual data on a SSD that was causing some conflicts I decided to zero-write ALL of my storage and OS drives. Lengthy process but a sure fire way of giving your new OS the best opportunity at a clean slate.
I used to format all the time with Windows XP and earlier considering how easily it became an unrecoverable mess. With Windows 10 I only ever format when Microsoft's updates absolutely break my system and no attempts at repairs work... so it probably averages about once a year. The last creator's update caused the most bizarre problems I've ever seen, not least of which was breaking DX9 specifically, DX10-12 games still worked.
PC reformatting talk in the Guru's Pub?? Blasphemous! That being said, I am way overdue to do a clean install on my PC. I couldn't even tell you the last time I did one.
Ok I'm very baffled right now. I have a 2tb hard drive with around 60 games installed on steam which uses just over a terabyte. After doing a re-install of Windows 7 all of my steam games are not downloaded yet my hard drive is down to 600gb. I checked Origin and all my games are still installed. So basically Steam is acting like I have over 60 games installed, but I have to re-download all of them. Ugh, I'll mess with it tomorrow.
I never do that unless I have an issue. Why the need to reinstall that often? I can see 5 years but not 6 months.
Usually, i create a image after a fresh install.And go back to that image if things are getting messy.
To be honest I haven't really felt the need to reformat since Windows 8.1 (I'm now using Windows 10). In the XP days I'd reformat once a few months, the slowdowns over time were unbearable. Windows 7 didn't slow down as much as XP but that winsxs folder was out of procreating control, prompting me to format frequently since I only had a 60GB SSD at the time.
Never. At least my win7 was never damaged beyond repair, so why bother? My OS is installed over 6 years now, going better than new. Before christmas my old i7 Sandy Bridge went to silicon heaven, burned MB VRMs on the way, so I was forced to quick upgrade. Installed Z370 + i7 Coffe Lake and just booted win7 ssd into Safe Mode. Uninstalled all drivers, booted normally, reinstalled new ones (yes, there are intel drivers for win7 and this chipset including USB3) and from there happily continued where it went all down the toilet. I can't be bothered to setup everything I need for my work and multimedia. Just keep it free from crap like bunch of useless tools and services, install only needed updates manually, skip unverified downloads and you are good to go for years. Which are redundant advices here on guru3D anyway
for windows only when needed, as for GNU/Linux i tend to use rolling distros, so i almost never reformat, just keep my /home folder backed up and everythings rolls up
Original Install Date: 16/05/2017, 10:22:21 Probably the longest install yet, used to be around 6 months
Barely tbh, I'm so lazy with reinstalling windows. When I went from my fx 8350 to my i5 3570k I didn't even reinstall windows and it booted fine. (Please do as I say not as I do.) I did the same thing from my 3570k to my 920. When I sold my system and put the ssd it in my laptop I did format it, but when I put it into my older laptop I didn't and it also booted fine. Last week I put it back into my faster laptop and my luck finally ran out and it blue screened everytime it booted up, had to transfer all important files in the advanced recovery command prompt to an usb stick.
It depends on what I am doing. In some tests OS installation survives few hours. In other cases I have to reinstall only if MS breaks it beyond repair. My main OS usually survives 6 to 12 months without issue. And main cause for clean installation is me going to new insider build. My secondary OS installation (on disconnected drive, unless to be used) can actually survive between few hours to a month of active use. Then I erase it as it served its purpose. In w95 times I could reinstall few times a day. My 1st USB flash drive made it very easy. Same goes for w98. Actually from usefulness perspective, I liked Win Server 2003, which I cut down down to base OS similar to XP, but behaving better. - - - - Separating Data from OS drive is key to survive almost any OS failure. And if you can get OS fully working in 30 minutes, You are no longer held back by "all the work required to do backups of user data and installing everything." (OneDrive is MS's way to make this process easier even to computer illiterates.)
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate OS Version: 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601 Original Install Date: 18/10/2014, 22:47:05 Looks like when I put another SSD in. Pretty sure the Windows 10 install is longer... Think I had 7 years once with Windows XP Pro.
I only use Windows (10) for games. I only formatted once because of getting a new disk. My main OS is Linux (Gentoo), and I installed it about 12 years ago. Never re-installed from scratch. When I moved it to a new disk, I just copied it over (you can just do that with Linux; wish I could do that with Windows too...) Back in the XP days, yeah. I would re-install it maybe every 8 months or so, when it became a broken mess.
