reformatting or starting from scratch

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Thanks for the replys all..
 I see people say"I am going to do a reinstall"...and then I see people say"I am going to reformat"..

 I was hoping that I could do something so that I wouldnt have to redownload all My windows updates...And for the record,I am not sure how to save all those if I needed too,or if it is even possible..

  Also,I have the family upgrade windows764,and was trying to get around having to use the key again if I had too,as one needs to have an already operating OS on the machine for the upgrade.Now I DID do the upgrade without having an OS installed by adjusting the # in the registry and all is fine.(I wanted a CLEAN install)..

You still have the option not to format at all and simply reinstall windows over the existing copy replacing all system files with originals. This will work 100% fine but it will leave unwanted junk taking hd space - but if that's not a problem then again you get to keep your downloaded stuff too.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Yes, and at the same time you are making dangerous assumptions as well, claiming that formatting can be taken lightly.  "Oh geez... who cares if I back up anything or not because I can just recover it after a format."

Lol, there's nothing wrong with that mindset since it's 100% correct. The format in itself does not harm the data. Would I recommend anyone to do it if he needs his data later? Of course not, that's retarded. If you need your data, don't format. Simple as that.

But claiming that after the format your data is gone is just simply wrong and you can't make any more excuses on that. I'm not jumping on your persona here, everyone makes mistakes some times and I only corrected yours. Take it as it was meant - as advice - please.

[hyster]

falcon what i suggest u do in ur case.

format ur hard drive, install all the updat's u can, install all ur drivers, install any programs that u use alot/daily (ie: photoshop, msn ...........)
then take a "image" of ur hard drive and save it.

doing this it takes a couple of hours to have a fresh install when u need to and all ur programs, drivers and updates are allready in place. all u need to do then is to install the updates from when u last took an image.

the program i use at work to do this is norton ghost but there are other's out there that will do the same thing.

something else i tell people to do with mid to large drives is to partition the hard drive.

so a 320gig hard drive becomes "2" drives
have a small (80gig) main drive c:\ use this for windows and programs.
have a larger (240gig) 2nd drive d:\ for downloads/storage.

doing this means u can wipe c:\ with windows, re-install windows and the data on d:\ will not be touched.

[Dichotomy]

I like to do what I call a 'Rip and rebuild' every 12 months or so.  I back up everything important to me (bookmarks, outlook .pst files, documents (if there are any I pretty much keep all my data on the external), and so on. 

I've been trying to convince my employers this will add to the longevity of the machines if they'd let me set a day a year aside just to do a computer at a time and they just roll their eyes. 
 

[2bighorn]

I like to do what I call a 'Rip and rebuild' every 12 months or so.

Why?

this will add to the longevity of the machines

You made me curious. Please explain.