Mark

I would do neither unless the data drive is fragmented in which case
just run Disk Defragmenter. What is the size of the drive and how much
free disk space?

Why are you reinstalling Windows XP?


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Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
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Mark G. wrote:
> If I have a hard drive that is purely for data and no registry or
> applications exist on it but yet I am reinstalling my OS (Win XP
> Pro), would you think it is wise to completely wipe this drive
> provided I have backups of the data on it. By wiping and formatting
> it again in Win XP, doesn't that start it again back at square one
> with no fragmentation or can I just simple not wipe it and run a deep
> defrag program on it? Suggestions here please? Plan on starting my
> upgrade/reinstall tomorrow.