How often should you format?

[Rage85]

I haven't formatted since i bought my computer a year ago, was just wondering how often people format?

 

[P3N9U1N]

About every 3 - 6 months mine gets a format, just to clean rubbish out and speed it up a bit

 

[Unicorn]

6-12 months depending on if the gf has been on it

 

[Paul11]

used to format at least once a year but since win 7 much less often

 

[Liquiduk]

Good reminder in fact. Will be formatting this evening.

 

[C64]

never as i have a solid state now

 

[panyan]

About every 3 - 6 months mine gets a format, just to clean rubbish out and speed it up a bit

+1

 

[NightSt@lk3r]

Since Windows 7 was released i have reinstalled windows once and that was only because i upgraded to an SSD, unless you get some kind of virus that wont go away there really is no need.

 

[OLDPHART]

I only format if l have to, this present OS Win7 has been on just short of 2 years. I just use CCleaner to get rid of the daily rubbish you get left on after being online, etc and my PC is just as fast as ever.

If things do go wrong with the OS, l just re-install the latest back up image of my HDD.

 

[BuffetSlayer]

Uhm, I dont, unless I have a virus or serious problem. Nor do I defrag.

I have been running my HDD since the last virus which was about 2.5 years ago roughly. Then before that I ran it for about 2 years. My HDD is about 6 years old and I think I have formatted it twice, maybe 3 times at most.

PC works fine, and if I feel its getting sluggish I do a spring clean

 

[Craig321]

I haven't since I got my SSD, so almost a year and a half now.

My next format will be for Windows 8 I guess.

 

[justalex81]

depends on how well you maintain i suppose. I would do one prob every 6 months. Use a program like tune up utilities and it will prob go longer

 

[Rage85]

I use windows 7 and have never formated using it, i used to do it the old way by going into the bios etc, is it easier now? can i keep files i have on my pc now easy when formatting?

 

[justalex81]

these days nobody keeps data on the same drive as the OS so formatting is easy. I just clone from one of several images made at various stages of installation.

 

[InfiniteNoise]

Every 6~ months, I don't need to do much, practically all of my files are stored on external drives and various cloud services (Dropbox, Amazon Cloud, etc)

 

[dunn2010]

i usually do it when you start to notice a dramatice change in the speed of your system generally loading stuff. id prob say on average once a year.

theres no real right or wrong answer, you could go 2 years without formatting and still be running good if you maintained things properly and didnt batter your pc with trash.

 

[pepp77]

I format only if there is actually a reason to, I have never seen the point of formatting every 6 months to speed things up.

 

[Nightglow]

Gaming pc running W7 64 bit, has just had it's first format in 2 years, whereas the other pc's in the house all running W7 64bit usually 12 months or less.

 

[Xelene]

If it starts notIceavly slowing down or my wife has installed some crapware. 18 months or so.

 

[andy_mk3]

This install has been on for 9 months now, god bless the SSD No slow down at all! Longest I've ever been without a format, I used to do it every few months.