"Mark G." <askmefirst@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Ou%23yNEp9HHA.4612@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> 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.
>

Sounds like one of those questions where the interrogative is purposely
leaving out important information for a correct answer.

If the mentioned hard drive has existed on the PC before with XP installed
and no problems exist, defrag should work fine.
Dave