How often should you format?

trickynickyuk · 6 Sep 2012 at 20:07

every 3-6 month or when i screw my system up

MagicBoy · 6 Sep 2012 at 20:10

Old P4 - has an mid-2003 install of XP on it. No problems with it.
Windows 7 box - installed on day of launch. No problems with it.
Mac - running a 2006 user profile that's been on it's fifth operating system and migrated to 2 new machines.

Unless you load lots of crap and utilities on, or tinker around for kicks there's very little need to wipe and reload. It's not the Windows 95 days when it started blue-screening for fun after 12 months. You just think it's faster.

martrimo · 6 Sep 2012 at 20:19

Depends on how you maintain it, but i recommend every 3-6 months

Orcvader · 6 Sep 2012 at 20:23

You guys format too quick, I only format it when it feels groggy. Had this system for about a year and a half now and still feels as quick as it was when it was first built.