What's the longest you've gone without formatting?

FatRakoon said:
Of course going THAT long without a restart would also mean that MS own updates will not be installed and therefore, its not only prone to issues and infections itslef, but its also going to let nasties onto the internet because you haven't got it fully secured!
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Pah it's an Amiga, no ms stuff on it!
 
Well i just learned a very valuable lesson the past few days...ive been putting off doing a vista re-install on my laptop as its been running dog slow but been too busy to do so...anyhow the other day i went to log into my laptop and found it was taking far too long so i did a hard reset of the laptop only to find that it wouldnt boot...seems like my hd went bang and i lost all my data that was on it...i managed to recover some of it but most of it was lost due to some cyclic error....so i tried to repair the install so i could get my data off but wouldnt have it...in the end i threw the hd away and got myself a new one which i installed vista back on it.

Usually i do a re-install every 6 mths or so and back up my data weekly but this time round i didnt for a good yr or so and my luck ran out:(...60gbs of music and data gone just like that...raging but its all my fault really.
 
I've not formatted since I built this PC and first installed Windows 7.

15/07/2010

Before that my old PC ran Vista for around 2 years without a format.

There's just no need any more :)
 
I had Windows 2000 running on a Shuttle from late 2004 'til mid-2010, so 5½ years there. Current machines: Shuttle running Windows 7 since Dec 2009 and laptop running Windows XP since Sep 2008.
 
Vista-64 11 months old and recently it has become dog-slow, possibly as a result of some random boot failures and having to run the Vista repair tool. Really tempted to format one of my 3200AAKS (no longer in RAID) and start afresh...
 
System been running for almost 7 Years.

Host Name:
OS Name: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration: Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type: Multiprocessor Free
Registered Owner:
Registered Organization:
Product ID: 76487-OEM-0011903-00102
Original Install Date: 25/10/2004, 13:31:58
System Up Time: 0 Days, 7 Hours, 33 Minutes, 27 Seconds
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dimension XPS Gen 3
System type: X86-based PC
Processor(s): 1 Processor(s) Installed.
[01]: x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4 GenuineIntel ~3192 Mhz
BIOS Version: DELL - 7

...waiting on Microsoft building a PC store in my house :)
 
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Been awhile now, coming up to almost 2 years. Used to reformat regularly out of maintenance habit but there really is no need anymore + I can't be arsed anymore.
 
Last time I have format my Pc was when my AVG antivirus was expired it was 2009 I guess. After that I got a new antivirus and it works well that's why I don't need to format again for almost 2 years. Their are some glitch but it works well without formatting.
 
Socrates470BC said:
System been running for almost 7 Years.

Host Name:
OS Name: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration: Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type: Multiprocessor Free
Registered Owner:
Registered Organization:
Product ID: 76487-OEM-0011903-00102
Original Install Date: 25/10/2004, 13:31:58
System Up Time: 0 Days, 7 Hours, 33 Minutes, 27 Seconds
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dimension XPS Gen 3
System type: X86-based PC
Processor(s): 1 Processor(s) Installed.
[01]: x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4 GenuineIntel ~3192 Mhz
BIOS Version: DELL - 7

...waiting on Microsoft building a PC store in my house :)
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Mine must be similar, it's a P4 2.8ghz system that I've been using for absolutely ages. A reinstall might be nice on it but I have so much software on there that the thought of reinstalling it; especially seeing as I have to mess about to get some postscript printer things to work....which I use for my business and hence are very important to have running; fills me with dread!!!

I'm building a new PC at the start of next month and I'm already dreading the thought of not only getting to grips with windows 7 and setting it up on the network but also trying to get the rather ancient software I use (Quark 5, Photoshop 5.5 and Acrobat 5) running on it!!! Ideally I'd upgrade my software too but finances really don't allow for that so I need to be able to get the software I currently own running...
 
OspreyO said:
My XP workstation at work 7yrs.

Original Install Date: 28/09/2004, 13:53:44

Really had no issues with it. Its a development machine with Visual Studio 2003 ~ 2008 installed, and MS SQL, Office 2003 & 2007 etc. Bunch of other development stuff
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Even older than my system!!! (by one month :) )

valve90210 said:
Mine must be similar, it's a P4 2.8ghz system that I've been using for absolutely ages. A reinstall might be nice on it but I have so much software on there that the thought of reinstalling it; especially seeing as I have to mess about to get some postscript printer things to work....which I use for my business and hence are very important to have running; fills me with dread!!!
...
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It appears that we developers are more concerned with the time lost in moving everything to a new environment than any efficiency gains from a fresh install. It usually takes me several months of running in parallel before I am happy to close down an old system.

This time, when I get new hardware/OS, I may look at packaging my old system on a virtual HD, if this is possible. What would be the best way to do this?
 
Socrates470BC said:
Even older than my system!!! (by one month :) )



It appears that we developers are more concerned with the time lost in moving everything to a new environment than any efficiency gains from a fresh install. It usually takes me several months of running in parallel before I am happy to close down an old system.

This time, when I get new hardware/OS, I may look at packaging my old system on a virtual HD, if this is possible. What would be the best way to do this?
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That sounds just about right!! Once I've built my new PC i'll still have my exisiting one setup and in use for any work that I need to do for at least a couple of months while I ensure that everything is working correctly on the new machine.

I remember when I switched to the P4 system, it took me a good week of trying different methods to get acrobat installed and working and make sure quark was able to export to pdf via Distiller, and I have to say I am dreading the thought of having to get it all working again on a new computer which will likely be even less willing to get 12 year old software running!!!

Sadly I have no idea re the old system on a virtual hard drive but if you do find any answers I'd be very interested in hearing about it.
 
my laptop hasn't been formated in about 2 years now, back in the day i used to do it often 'for fun' but i realized that it's not really needed.
 
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