Reformatting your PC a lot of times.

WaXT · Sep 2, 2010, 11:18 AM

Is it true that when you reformat your PC allot of times, it could be a reason for PC damage?
Let's say I reformat my PC for 1x/2 months. Could it damage my PC?

arroyo · Sep 2, 2010, 11:23 AM

No. It's totally safe. It's normal I/O operation on HDD.

WaXT · Sep 2, 2010, 11:23 AM

Are you sure even on low systems?

Because I hate it when people use my "reformatting every 2 months" as a reasonfor my pc to break.

caleb · Sep 2, 2010, 11:28 AM

It's a machine. HDD spins and move's its heads, electricity flows,fans blow etc
It doesn't care if its reinstalling OS or playing blob volley.

WaXT · Sep 2, 2010, 11:31 AM

Thanks. I knew it all along. Just making sure.

Thrackan · Sep 2, 2010, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WaXT

Are you sure even on low systems?

Because I hate it when people use my "reformatting every 2 months" as a reasonfor my pc to break.

Stop associating with those people. Immediately.

WaXT · Sep 2, 2010, 11:49 AM

I know. And some shops say that it could be a reason. LOL
and those shops happen to have those beast hardwares.

shevanel · Sep 2, 2010, 11:53 AM

I've blown gpu's from refreshing UPS tracking too many times / hour.

Thrackan · Sep 2, 2010, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WaXT

I know. And some shops say that it could be a reason. LOL
and those shops happen to have those beast hardwares.

Hmm, I have serious doubts about buying hardware from a shop which I don't trust to be able to actually use it. Or worse, troubleshoot it when it fails. But that's just my €0,02

shevanel · Sep 2, 2010, 12:04 PM

My local pc shop is stuck on S775. Whenever I go in there for something I can hear all the guys in the back watching youtube videos containing i7's and the sound of ham being used to drive nails is usually what sends me out running.

I once went in there with 2x2gb of DRR3 and asked if he would take it in trade for a 1GB stick of 667 or 2x512 (I was in a bind and other pc shops in the past always traded with me) and he told me he wasn't sure what the DDR3 should be used with... I uh'd

WaXT · Sep 2, 2010, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shevanel

my local pc shop is stuck on s775. Whenever i go in there for something i can hear all the guys in the back watching youtube videos containing i7's and the sound of ham being used to drive nails is usually what sends me out running.

I once went in there with 2x2gb of drr3 and asked if he would take it in trade for a 1gb stick of 667 or 2x512 (i was in a bind and other pc shops in the past always traded with me) and he told me he wasn't sure what the ddr3 should be used with... I uh'd

lmfao

a_ump · Sep 2, 2010, 12:39 PM

one thing you gotta learn....is to learn about computers yourself before trusting what shops say. Some are good but take even Geeksquad. Sent them a computer my friends mom sent in b4 i cld touch it, got it back with them saying the mobo was dead. I took out on 8800Ultra(was in SLI) and put the bottom on in the top PCI-E slot and walla...computer works.

So in reality you can only trust TPU and your own knowledge

de.das.dude · Sep 2, 2010, 12:45 PM

those are really wise words indeed!

TIGR · Sep 2, 2010, 12:53 PM

The only component in terms of "wear and tear" by formatting is the hard drive.

The most substantial study of HDD failures I know of, Google's Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population shows that yes, HDD utilization does impact the life of hard drives (read under Utilization starting on page 4 of the study)—the impact is not as simple as you might think, so read for more info.

I can think of very few circumstances under which I'd recommend performing a full format (not a "quick format") every two months.

de.das.dude · Sep 2, 2010, 01:36 PM

i have known that a HDD can be safely "fully" formatted a limited no of times. after that the magnetic sectors are known to get &^&*&#$-fied.

CJCerny · Sep 2, 2010, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by de.das.dude

i have known that a HDD can be safely "fully" formatted a limited no of times. after that the magnetic sectors are known to get &^&*&#$-fied.

Completely untrue. Formatting a hard drive doesn't utilize it any differently than normal use. Formatting a drive repeatedly will not shorten its lifespan.

caleb · Sep 2, 2010, 01:56 PM

I think what you mean is a low level format. This is not the case with our common "formats"

Thrackan · Sep 2, 2010, 02:01 PM

Even a low-level format is simply a rearrangement of the magnetic tracks. Yes, there is a limited number of times, but I doubt you can reach that limit while constantly formatting for the rest of your life.

CJCerny · Sep 2, 2010, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thrackan

Even a low-level format is simply a rearrangement of the magnetic tracks. Yes, there is a limited number of times, but I doubt you can reach that limit while constantly formatting for the rest of your life.

Again, completely untrue. There's no such thing as a "low level" format anymore. That hasn't existed since MFM hard drives. When people speak of a low level format nowadays, they are simply referring to the process of writing zeros or "zero filling" the entire drive, which isn't any more strenous on a drive than anything else.

Thrackan · Sep 2, 2010, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJCerny

Again, completely untrue. There's no such thing as a "low level" format anymore. That hasn't existed since MFM hard drives. When people speak of a low level format nowadays, they are simply referring to the process of writing zeros or "zero filling" the entire drive, which isn't any more strenous on a drive than anything else.

There is nothing untrue about my statement. The magnetic tracks are being rearranged, just like any writing operations.

TIGR · Sep 2, 2010, 02:33 PM

LLF (low level formatting) is still done—but at the factory. Utilities exist allowing end users to perform low level formats as well, though it is sometimes not possible to do so outside of the factory.

Perseid · Sep 2, 2010, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WaXT

Are you sure even on low systems?

Because I hate it when people use my "reformatting every 2 months" as a reasonfor my pc to break.

I'll just throw this out there as a reason why people might say that: Full formatting also does error checking, so formatting often might show the existence of problems that you otherwise might not see for a while, so it might LOOK like the formatting is causing the error.

Really, though, you might want to ask yourself why you're formatting every 2 months. I haven't reformatted this machine for almost 4 years.

AsRock · Sep 2, 2010, 03:30 PM

More likely to get OS issue's before hardware issue due to it. You only have so many activations for a OS then ya have to phone them lol.

W1zzard · Sep 2, 2010, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AsRock

You only have so many activations for a OS then ya have to phone them lol.

so call them. you paid for it, you are entitled to your reinstalls, its their job to make it work for you

TIGR · Sep 2, 2010, 03:58 PM

^^ It only takes a few minutes and I wouldn't call it an OS "issue."

Sep 2, 2010, 11:18 AM	#1
WaXT Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Makati, PH Posts: 215 (0.21/day) Thanks: 81 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts System Specs	Reformatting your PC a lot of times. Is it true that when you reformat your PC allot of times, it could be a reason for PC damage? Let's say I reformat my PC for 1x/2 months. Could it damage my PC? __________________ ......................................I eat cereals at night

System Name:	Apollo's Bow
Processor:	Core i5-760
Motherboard:	MSI P55-GD55
Cooling:	Stock
Memory:	Kingston 6GB DDR3 1600 RAM 2x3
Video Card:	AMD Radeon HD5770
Hard Disk:	Seagate 500GB 7200RPM \| WD 160GB Caviar Blue 7200RPM
Optical Drive:	Lite-On IDE DVD-ROM
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung LA22B350F2 22" HDMI
Case:	NZXT Apollo
Sound Card:	Onboard
PSU:	Thermaltake Lite-power 600w
Software:	Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (OEM)
Benchmarks:	Never benchmarked

Sep 2, 2010, 11:23 AM	#2
arroyo Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Bydgoszcz, Poland Posts: 383 (0.22/day) Thanks: 19 Thanked 88 Times in 69 Posts System Specs	No. It's totally safe. It's normal I/O operation on HDD. __________________ AMD 1055T @ 3600MHz cooled by Thermalright 120 Xtreme (lapped) / Asrock 880G@890GX / A-Data + 1600 DDR3 / Seasonic M12D 850W / Asus HD6950 unlocked / 2 button ball mouse / Benchmark: 2.3 promile of alcohol in my blood and still standing

System Name:	"Złotko"
Processor:	AMD 1055T @ 3600 MHz
Motherboard:	Asrock 880G@890GX
Cooling:	Thermalright 120 Xtreme (lapped)
Memory:	A-Data 1600 Plus
Video Card:	Asus HD6950 unlocked - WOW
Hard Disk:	many more than you can imagine
CRT/LCD Model:	Acer AL1923 and Philips 40PFL5605H
Case:	Fractal Define R3
Sound Card:	X-Fi Music / onboard
PSU:	Seasonic M12D 850W
Software:	viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, adware, rootkits
Benchmarks:	2.3 promile of alcohol in my blood and still standing

Sep 2, 2010, 11:23 AM	#3
WaXT Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Makati, PH Posts: 215 (0.21/day) Thanks: 81 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts System Specs	Are you sure even on low systems? Because I hate it when people use my "reformatting every 2 months" as a reasonfor my pc to break. __________________ ......................................I eat cereals at night

Sep 2, 2010, 11:28 AM	#4
caleb Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Poland,Slask Posts: 1,119 (0.35/day) Thanks: 204 Thanked 176 Times in 144 Posts System Specs	It's a machine. HDD spins and move's its heads, electricity flows,fans blow etc It doesn't care if its reinstalling OS or playing blob volley.

System Name:	HAL
Processor:	Core i5 2500K
Motherboard:	Asus P8P67 Pro Rev3.1
Cooling:	stock
Memory:	2x4GB Kingston 1600Mhz Blu
Video Card:	Asus 560Ti DirectCuII TOP
Hard Disk:	WD Black WD1502FAEX
Optical Drive:	none
CRT/LCD Model:	LG 1440x900
Case:	Chieftec Mesh Midi
Sound Card:	onboard
PSU:	Corsair TX750V2
Software:	win7sp1
Benchmarks:	Finally upgraded for BF3!

Sep 2, 2010, 11:31 AM	#5
WaXT Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Makati, PH Posts: 215 (0.21/day) Thanks: 81 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts System Specs	Thanks. I knew it all along. Just making sure. __________________ ......................................I eat cereals at night

System Name:	Acer Aspire V3-771G-53218G75Maii
Processor:	Core i5 3210M (2,5-3,1Ghz)
Memory:	8GB DDR3 SODIMM
Video Card:	Geforce GT650M
Hard Disk:	Samsung 830 256GB - 750GB Toshiba drive
Optical Drive:	Slim drive thingy
CRT/LCD Model:	LG E2711T-BN 27"
Software:	Windows 7 x64 Home Premium (non-acer-bloatware)

Sep 2, 2010, 11:49 AM	#7
WaXT Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Makati, PH Posts: 215 (0.21/day) Thanks: 81 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts System Specs	I know. And some shops say that it could be a reason. LOL and those shops happen to have those beast hardwares. __________________ ......................................I eat cereals at night

Sep 2, 2010, 11:53 AM	#8
shevanel Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Leesburg, FL Posts: 3,151 (2.21/day) Thanks: 1,515 Thanked 410 Times in 338 Posts System Specs	I've blown gpu's from refreshing UPS tracking too many times / hour. __________________ Stop comparing it to onboard! Compare it to something it falls short to so that we can really understand. HEAT

Sep 2, 2010, 12:04 PM	#10
shevanel Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Leesburg, FL Posts: 3,151 (2.21/day) Thanks: 1,515 Thanked 410 Times in 338 Posts System Specs	My local pc shop is stuck on S775. Whenever I go in there for something I can hear all the guys in the back watching youtube videos containing i7's and the sound of ham being used to drive nails is usually what sends me out running. I once went in there with 2x2gb of DRR3 and asked if he would take it in trade for a 1GB stick of 667 or 2x512 (I was in a bind and other pc shops in the past always traded with me) and he told me he wasn't sure what the DDR3 should be used with... I uh'd __________________ Stop comparing it to onboard! Compare it to something it falls short to so that we can really understand. HEAT

Sep 2, 2010, 12:39 PM	#12
a_ump Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Fairmont, WV Posts: 3,108 (1.53/day) Thanks: 464 Thanked 321 Times in 297 Posts System Specs	one thing you gotta learn....is to learn about computers yourself before trusting what shops say. Some are good but take even Geeksquad. Sent them a computer my friends mom sent in b4 i cld touch it, got it back with them saying the mobo was dead. I took out on 8800Ultra(was in SLI) and put the bottom on in the top PCI-E slot and walla...computer works. So in reality you can only trust TPU and your own knowledge __________________ My Heatware

System Name:	MrBudget
Processor:	Intel Celeron G1610
Motherboard:	Biostar H61
Memory:	4gb
Video Card:	PNY GTX 560
Hard Disk:	Seagate Barra 1TB
Optical Drive:	none! Digital :)
CRT/LCD Model:	HP F1703, 17" 1280x1024
Case:	HP Pavil. a630n case
Sound Card:	onboard
PSU:	Rosewill CAPSTONE 450watt
Software:	Win 7 x64

Sep 2, 2010, 12:45 PM	#13
de.das.dude Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Wild Wild East Posts: 4,859 (4.41/day) Thanks: 2,447 Thanked 1,421 Times in 978 Posts System Specs	those are really wise words indeed! __________________ Join the TPU GRID 2 ClUB T0D4Y!

System Name:	SuperDuperUberComputer
Processor:	AMD Phenom II 945 X4 3.0Ghz
Motherboard:	ASRock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling:	CM Hyper 212 EVO push:pull+ 1 panaflow 113CFM + 2 x 120mm NZXTs
Memory:	2x4GB DDR3 Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz CL9
Video Card:	AMD 7790 GHZ edition!
Hard Disk:	SATA II 80GB Hitachi 7200RPM,W.D 500GB Green \|\| 4GB int + random SD cards
Optical Drive:	ASUS DVD drive
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung Sync Master 793s CRT\|
Case:	NZXT Guardian 921RB
Sound Card:	Realtek ALC892 with THX True Studio
PSU:	Corsair GS600
Software:	Windows 7 64bit
Benchmarks:	real men dont need to bench :p

Sep 2, 2010, 12:53 PM	#14
TIGR Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Posts: 2,098 (1.19/day) Thanks: 739 Thanked 1,032 Times in 598 Posts System Specs	The only component in terms of "wear and tear" by formatting is the hard drive. The most substantial study of HDD failures I know of, Google's Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population shows that yes, HDD utilization does impact the life of hard drives (read under Utilization starting on page 4 of the study)—the impact is not as simple as you might think, so read for more info. I can think of very few circumstances under which I'd recommend performing a full format (not a "quick format") every two months.

System Name:	TIGRAlpha4
Processor:	i5 750 @ 3.6GHz
Motherboard:	Asus P7P55 WS Supercomputer
Cooling:	S1283 + FFB1212VHE
Memory:	12GB DDR3 1800, 7-8-7-24
Video Card:	3x GTX 470
Hard Disk:	128GB Kingston SSD + 4x 500GB RAID 0 + 8x 1.5TB RAID 6
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung 275T + 3x Dell P1130
PSU:	Silverstone OP1000-E

Sep 2, 2010, 01:36 PM	#15
de.das.dude Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Wild Wild East Posts: 4,859 (4.41/day) Thanks: 2,447 Thanked 1,421 Times in 978 Posts System Specs	i have known that a HDD can be safely "fully" formatted a limited no of times. after that the magnetic sectors are known to get &^&*&#$-fied. __________________ Join the TPU GRID 2 ClUB T0D4Y!

Processor:	Intel 3570k
Motherboard:	AsRock Pro4M
Memory:	8gb
Video Card:	Zotac Nvidia 650Ti
Hard Disk:	60gb OCZ Agility 3
Optical Drive:	DVD Burner

Sep 2, 2010, 01:56 PM	#17
caleb Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Poland,Slask Posts: 1,119 (0.35/day) Thanks: 204 Thanked 176 Times in 144 Posts System Specs	I think what you mean is a low level format. This is not the case with our common "formats" __________________ "Let me noobilize you"

Sep 2, 2010, 02:01 PM	#18
Thrackan Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 3,159 (1.84/day) Thanks: 235 Thanked 652 Times in 533 Posts System Specs	Even a low-level format is simply a rearrangement of the magnetic tracks. Yes, there is a limited number of times, but I doubt you can reach that limit while constantly formatting for the rest of your life. __________________ Play League of Legends! Join the Ghetto modders club Put your Steam games on multiple partitions

Sep 2, 2010, 02:33 PM	#21
TIGR Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Posts: 2,098 (1.19/day) Thanks: 739 Thanked 1,032 Times in 598 Posts System Specs	LLF (low level formatting) is still done—but at the factory. Utilities exist allowing end users to perform low level formats as well, though it is sometimes not possible to do so outside of the factory.

Processor:	i7-870
Motherboard:	ASUS P7P55D-E Pro
Cooling:	Coolermaster Hyper 212
Memory:	2x OCZ Special Ops 2GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 8-8-8-24
Video Card:	Palit GTX 470
Hard Disk:	Numerous 1.5 and 2 TB
Optical Drive:	Pioneer 112D
CRT/LCD Model:	HP w2338h
Case:	NZXT Lexa S
PSU:	CORSAIR TX Series 950W
Software:	Windows 7

Sep 2, 2010, 03:30 PM	#23
AsRock TPU addict Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: US\ Uk Born Posts: 8,911 (4.07/day) Thanks: 1,729 Thanked 1,384 Times in 1,200 Posts System Specs	More likely to get OS issue's before hardware issue due to it. You only have so many activations for a OS then ya have to phone them lol.

System Name:	weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Processor:	i5 2500k \ i7 3770k
Motherboard:	ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 \ ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
Cooling:	Gemini II S524 \ XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 with Couger 1500 RPM fans\ ZM-MFC2
Memory:	Samsung 1600 16GB \ Samsung 1600 16GB
Video Card:	XFX HD6770 \ XFX 6970 w/Prolima MK-13 ( With modded 5870 VRM hrstsink )
Hard Disk:	2x intel ssd x25 G2 80GB \ OCZ Solid 3+2 Corsair Force GT's 120GB (Use HDD's for backups only
Optical Drive:	LiteOn DVD 163 \ TEAC exturnal DVD drive
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung 204B 20.1inch ( Native 12x16 ) \ Toshiba 40" HDTV ( Native 1920x1080 )
Case:	ARK Black HTPC 400BA \ None
Sound Card:	Though video card HDMI ONKYO TX-SR608 +TANNOY MERCURY F4+ Polk Audio RTI4+Polk Audio PSW505
PSU:	CoolMax CXI-600B\ PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad
Software:	Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit \Win 7
Benchmarks:	Track IR 4 Razer Blackwidow Ultimate ( rma'ed trice and same issue's ) Steelseries XAI

Processor:	Intel Core i7-2600K @ 3.4 GHz
Motherboard:	ASUS P8Z68-V Pro
Memory:	3x 2048 MB Mushkin DDR3
Video Card:	ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP
Hard Disk:	Crucial C300 128 GB, WD6400AAKS 640 GB, WD15EADS 1.5 TB
Optical Drive:	BenQ DW1640
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell U3011 30", 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Case:	NZXT H2
Sound Card:	On-board Realtek HD
PSU:	Kingwin Absolute Platinum 550 W
Software:	Windows 7 64-bit

Sep 2, 2010, 03:58 PM	#25
TIGR Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Posts: 2,098 (1.19/day) Thanks: 739 Thanked 1,032 Times in 598 Posts System Specs	^^ It only takes a few minutes and I wouldn't call it an OS "issue."

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Reformatting your computer	freaksavior	General Hardware	19	Dec 10, 2007 03:48 PM
reformatting	hat	General Software	3	Nov 23, 2006 02:49 PM
Cut Loads Of Time Off Your Loading Times In Bf2	Slater	Games	26	Oct 29, 2006 02:47 AM
How many times does your WindowsXP bar roll by during startup?	tofu	General Software	23	Jun 27, 2006 05:55 PM
How many times can u use your XP registration?	HookeyStreet	General Software	11	Nov 28, 2004 12:55 PM