Flaming_Maniac
prince of insufficient light
+2,490|7164|67.222.138.85
My friend is getting a new proc, RAM, and motherboard but still has the same hard drive, does he need to reformat his drive for the new system?
Airwolf
Latter Alcoholic
+287|7178|Scotland
shouldn't have to I wouldn't think, though I would recommend it.
Soldier-Of-Wasteland
Mephistopheles
+40|7114|Land of the Very Cold
I did when I changed my proc/mobo/ram 2 years ago. Anyhow, a good format doesn't hurt once in a while. It'll purge the bugs out, and he'll start fresh and all with is new gear. And reinstalling Windows is a piece of cake (chocolate cake that is).
{M5}Sniper3
Typical white person.
+389|7217|San Antonio, Texas
Unless he likes staring at a black screen, yes he does need to reformat.
darthazeem
Member
+7|6930
You can keep the HDD however when he gets his new mobo and CPU he will have to update the chipset, audio, IDE controller, Mem controller, etc for everything to work fine, I've done it hundreds of times and I've only had a very few issues w/doing it (the issues were related to SCSI drives but that doesnt matter).  You dont have to reformat but if he is having issues getting the drivers updated he will have to format.

https://www.bf2player.com/sig/67240774-539.png
Flaming_Maniac
prince of insufficient light
+2,490|7164|67.222.138.85

Soldier-Of-Wasteland wrote:

I did when I changed my proc/mobo/ram 2 years ago. Anyhow, a good format doesn't hurt once in a while. It'll purge the bugs out, and he'll start fresh and all with is new gear. And reinstalling Windows is a piece of cake (chocolate cake that is).
You did, but did you have to? He would rather not reformat if he doesn't have to, though I agree about reinstalling windows.
Airwolf
Latter Alcoholic
+287|7178|Scotland

darthazeem wrote:

You can keep the HDD however when he gets his new mobo and CPU he will have to update the chipset, audio, IDE controller, Mem controller, etc for everything to work fine, I've done it hundreds of times and I've only had a very few issues w/doing it (the issues were related to SCSI drives but that doesnt matter).  You dont have to reformat but if he is having issues getting the drivers updated he will have to format.

http://www.bf2player.com/sig/67240774-539.png
wow, how long it take you to verify? Takes me 27 secs on a SATAII
Bertster7
Confused Pothead
+1,101|7039|SE London

It's always much better to reformat when installing windows. You almost always have to reinstall windows when you put a new chipset in.
Cheez
Herman is a warmaphrodite
+1,027|6896|King Of The Islands

Yep he needs a format. He needs to update the Windows HAL, which can only be done, very conveniently, with a reinstall.

On the topic. I usually just rename Docs&Settings, and Windows, and put a new Windows on the old File System. Would you recommend I do this or put on a new NTFS completely?  (This is, in all entirety a fresh install of Windows, just on the old NTFS which needs an urgent defrag afterwards)

Just being lazy, or good way to cut time?
My state was founded by Batman. Your opinion is invalid.
darthazeem
Member
+7|6930
I agree reformatting and reinstalling will guarantee that everything is functional.  When i first put this system together I started w/a Intel 945 series board and 840 Processor, come to find out that the board was bad after installing windows updating Nvidia drivers for vid card etc.  Ordered a ECS SLI board new mem and vid card, put it all together fired it up and windows asked for drivers for hardware I cancelled through all the screens then ran the disk that came w/new Mobo reinstalled the new chipset drivers etc all is working fine to this day.  I even installed BF2 prior to swapping out all that and BF2 works great Ive had no issues to speak of.  I have multiple Microsoft certifications and yes microsoft recommends fresh install, however from my understanding the HAL is recreated everytime the system boots up.   The HAL is the Hardware Abstraction Layer and contains pertinent info about drivers that windows needs (i.e. vid card, audio, mem controller, ide controller, etc) so when you change a piece of hardware in your system when you reboot the system the HAL rebuilds itself to reflect the new hardware that was added. 

The following is an excerpt from Wikopedia HAL

Operating systems having a defined HAL are easily portable across different hardware. This is especially important for embedded systems that run on dozens of different microcontrollers.

cheez wrote:

On the topic. I usually just rename Docs&Settings, and Windows, and put a new Windows on the old File System. Would you recommend I do this or put on a new NTFS completely?  (This is, in all entirety a fresh install of Windows, just on the old NTFS which needs an urgent defrag afterwards)
If you are trying to save the data on the existing drive I would recommend moving to another avail drive temp and then reinstall, if your going to reinstall do it on a clean partition w/no other data on it.  Unless your saving data in the windows dir then dont rename it and keep it there really is nothing in there to save other than IE, Firefox favs and other little things, the bulk should be in your My Docs under the docs & settings.

https://www.bf2player.com/sig/67240774-539.png

Last edited by darthazeem (2007-01-10 16:45:28)

Cheez
Herman is a warmaphrodite
+1,027|6896|King Of The Islands

darthazeem wrote:

from my understanding the HAL is recreated everytime the system boots up.   The HAL is the Hardware Abstraction Layer and contains pertinent info about drivers that windows needs (i.e. vid card, audio, mem controller, ide controller, etc) so when you change a piece of hardware in your system when you reboot the system the HAL rebuilds itself to reflect the new hardware that was added.  Im not 1000% sure about if you swap out the processor that you very well might have to reinstall but for board and other hardware no you dont have to but is recommended.
Ah yes, now I recall. Different architecture processors cannot be updated in the HAL (to some degree), but everything else can that's why you can install extra cards and it still goes.

darthazeem wrote:

cheez wrote:

On the topic. I usually just rename Docs&Settings, and Windows, and put a new Windows on the old File System. Would you recommend I do this or put on a new NTFS completely?  (This is, in all entirety a fresh install of Windows, just on the old NTFS which needs an urgent defrag afterwards)
If your going to reinstall do it on a clean partition w/no other data on it.
Well, I need another HDD anyway.

FYI: You can put your sig image under Profile.
My state was founded by Batman. Your opinion is invalid.
Reciprocity
Member
+721|7038|the dank(super) side of Oregon
there are few things as pleasant as a format and fresh windows install.
Marine_fighter77
Member
+20|6814
nah , i got a new ram 1gb i didnt format ..
Reciprocity
Member
+721|7038|the dank(super) side of Oregon

Marine_fighter77 wrote:

nah , i got a new ram 1gb i didnt format ..
ram doesn't require a format.
Cybargs
Moderated
+2,285|7174
New mobo doesn't need you need to reformat, I've changed a lot of mobos and I'm still running the same copy of windows.
https://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/203.46.105.23:21300/b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png
theknuck
It's pronounced Knuck, like in Knuckle!!
+45|7070|balls
i'd feel more comfortable with a fresh format after a good upgrade.  might as well.  besides, reformatting is the easy part.  having to reinstall your games, and other programs is the fucking bullshit part.   have fun.
CrazeD
Member
+368|7130|Maine

[E.F.L]Airwolf wrote:

darthazeem wrote:

You can keep the HDD however when he gets his new mobo and CPU he will have to update the chipset, audio, IDE controller, Mem controller, etc for everything to work fine, I've done it hundreds of times and I've only had a very few issues w/doing it (the issues were related to SCSI drives but that doesnt matter).  You dont have to reformat but if he is having issues getting the drivers updated he will have to format.

http://www.bf2player.com/sig/67240774-539.png
wow, how long it take you to verify? Takes me 27 secs on a SATAII
SATA = SCSI I. The uber fast server HDD's are SCSI II.


Yes, you need to reformat if you install a new motherboard. When XP is first loaded, it installs crucial files specific to the motherboard.
Cheez
Herman is a warmaphrodite
+1,027|6896|King Of The Islands

CrazeD wrote:

[E.F.L]Airwolf wrote:

darthazeem wrote:

You can keep the HDD however when he gets his new mobo and CPU he will have to update the chipset, audio, IDE controller, Mem controller, etc for everything to work fine, I've done it hundreds of times and I've only had a very few issues w/doing it (the issues were related to SCSI drives but that doesnt matter).  You dont have to reformat but if he is having issues getting the drivers updated he will have to format.

http://www.bf2player.com/sig/67240774-539.png
wow, how long it take you to verify? Takes me 27 secs on a SATAII
SATA = SCSI I. The uber fast server HDD's are SCSI II.


Yes, you need to reformat if you install a new motherboard. When XP is first loaded, it installs crucial files specific to the motherboard.
SCSI is SCSI. SATA is SATA.

Biggest clue is the cable. SCSI has an even more absurdly wide ribbon than IDE, oh and its daisychain.

/try's to remember differences between Fast, Ultra, Wide n' all that shit again.
My state was founded by Batman. Your opinion is invalid.
Marinejuana
local
+415|7043|Seattle
Your friend is an idiot not to jump at this opportunity to reformat. Windows starts to suck after a while, but if you reformat and reinstall every year or less, your computer stays bitchin.

question for people that actually know about computers:

does a reformat put a ton of wear and tear on the drive? is that why i seem to be the only one out of the people i know that regularly does it? or do people not do it becuase it requires typing about 12 letters in DOS...

heres another question:

if u have multiple hard drives and you reformat windows on one of them, can this cause any bizarre bugginess for the mp3s and videos that you have stockpiled on your other drives that you plan on coninuting to use with the fresh installation? thats what i just did, and everything seems fine, but i wonder if that is totally okay for the stability of the data on the other drives or not. they are all NTFS and connected by SATA I.
JE3146
Member
+109|7028|Oregon

Cheez wrote:

CrazeD wrote:

[E.F.L]Airwolf wrote:


wow, how long it take you to verify? Takes me 27 secs on a SATAII
SATA = SCSI I. The uber fast server HDD's are SCSI II.


Yes, you need to reformat if you install a new motherboard. When XP is first loaded, it installs crucial files specific to the motherboard.
SCSI is SCSI. SATA is SATA.

Biggest clue is the cable. SCSI has an even more absurdly wide ribbon than IDE, oh and its daisychain.

/try's to remember differences between Fast, Ultra, Wide n' all that shit again.
I'm gonna take a swing here, but I think he was comparing speed equivelences, not name similarities...
Stealth42o
She looked 18 to me officer
+175|7129

[E.F.L]Airwolf wrote:

shouldn't have to I wouldn't think, though I would recommend it.
x2
CrazeD
Member
+368|7130|Maine

JE3146 wrote:

Cheez wrote:

CrazeD wrote:


SATA = SCSI I. The uber fast server HDD's are SCSI II.


Yes, you need to reformat if you install a new motherboard. When XP is first loaded, it installs crucial files specific to the motherboard.
SCSI is SCSI. SATA is SATA.

Biggest clue is the cable. SCSI has an even more absurdly wide ribbon than IDE, oh and its daisychain.

/try's to remember differences between Fast, Ultra, Wide n' all that shit again.
I'm gonna take a swing here, but I think he was comparing speed equivelences, not name similarities...
Lol, yeah that's what I meant.
theknuck
It's pronounced Knuck, like in Knuckle!!
+45|7070|balls

Marinejuana wrote:

if u have multiple hard drives and you reformat windows on one of them, can this cause any bizarre bugginess for the mp3s and videos that you have stockpiled on your other drives that you plan on coninuting to use with the fresh installation? thats what i just did, and everything seems fine, but i wonder if that is totally okay for the stability of the data on the other drives or not. they are all NTFS and connected by SATA I.
nope, i just throw all the shit i want to save on my 2nd hard drive (the without windows) and it's never been a problem.  comes in handy when say holding onto those 700mb bf2 patches and such.  and i also reformat about 2x a year.

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