This should probably be in the Fun Forum because what I am about to say will most likely make you guys laugh your asses off. Ohwell, it took me the whole day to figure it out but I finally (yes my first) learned how to reformat my computer! I guess playing with these things on your own really does teach you something. Thanks to everyone who hasn't handed over information to me in a heart beat. I really learned that I can do things on my own now, thus my programming adventures begin!
*Cue insperational music*
Good job, Mitosis. ;D
[Edit]
Fixed a retarded spelling error. "Queue" instead of "Cue."
The day was not wasted then
I still don't think I've (re)formatted a computer yet, I should try it sometime. You're an inspiration to me Mitosis!
As are you to me!
/me reformats computer
:D
I've reformated ~4 times since the beginning of the year I think. :-\
Quote from: hismajesty[yL] on June 13, 2004, 09:30 PM
I've reformated ~4 times since the beginning of the year I think. :-\
ick, I've been trying not to format for the longest time. I have everything set up *just* the way I like it, and it usually takes a week or two for that fresh new feeling to settle in, and for me to get used to the suttle imperfections of the new setup. Since then I've had major scares while partitioning, once losing access to my main partition for threeish days before I could fix it. Beh!
I dislike formatting since it requires me to back stuff up and put it back on my computer etc and that's too much work. When I do it's usually because I fucked something up.
I don't know where I heard this, I think in previous years on this forum. Isn't it bad for your hard drive if you reformatt often?
Quote from: Mitosis on June 14, 2004, 07:05 AM
I don't know where I heard this, I think in previous years on this forum. Isn't it bad for your hard drive if you reformatt often?
I don't see why it would be. All it's doing is clearing the information on the harddrive. However, if you format with a hammer it may do a bit of harm.
I've never reformatted except one time on windows 3.1 when aol screwed up my computer cause i was bored and wanted to try the free trial ( then learned how much it sucked and my computer hated it ) then i got my new computer so i havent reformatted for 4-5 years
Mine was just running a bit slow, and I have problems keeping everything clean and organized. So I decided to format.
My opinion is that no, it will not corrupt your drive. If the idea of writing 0s to your drive might alter the longevity of the life of your drive, then we might as well say that using the drive AT ALL will alter the longevity (which obviously it does). When you format Mitosis, what the drive is doing is writing 0s. What this means, is each sector on your drive is written as 0000 (assuming it's a good sector). Formating also creates the file system the drive will use ( FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, etc... ). Think of this as a card catalog that you might find in a library.
When we use our hard drives (constantly and almost never ending (unless we're powered down)) we are continuously changing the contents of the sectors (or clusters) of our drive. Each sector is represented using the hex system, where each sector can represent a value between 0000 and FFFF. Now, just to confuse you more (although I KNOW you understand every word here :) ) is that you hard drive already has pre-written cluster values, but the STATUS or value of that cluster is different when you alter it. Those status flags, or hex values, are the same of 0000 and FFFF. I could go deeper with how larger drives work and how this method works, but for your purposes it might confuse ya :P
But in short, no I don't think the drive is damaged when you write 0s. It just wouldn't make sense.
I like formatting, and have done it several times for fun. Installing Xp, then 2k, then back to Xp after I realized that 2k was a mistake. Also different versions of Linux and other stuff. It's all good.
I reformatted my comp 6 times in a day! I had over a million virusus on there first time round.
Quote from: The-Rabid-Lord(aka Demonz) on June 14, 2004, 01:33 PM
I reformatted my comp 6 times in a day! I had over a million virusus on there first time round.
And the second time?
Files didnt copy and then some installations mucked it up the rest. Then the Hard Drive failed so im back on a 15GB unyill i get cash.
Why do the whole install over again instead of just repairing and putting the files that didnt copy where they go. I've never really had a problem with a windows install thought. They are pretty straight forward.
Well it passed over, but last night was one huge thunder storm.
Quote from: muert0 on June 14, 2004, 11:41 PM
Why do the whole install over again instead of just repairing and putting the files that didnt copy where they go. I've never really had a problem with a windows install thought. They are pretty straight forward.
They are but mine mucked up do to power cuts etc. My hard drive was failing as i said. Im looking into Linux for my next OS.
Formatting is super fun. When I first got my computer back, I reformmated 4 times in a week switching OS's. Then a month later I formatted again.. and not long ago I formatted for 2k3server.