About to Reformat...

[Jeef690]

...and was wondering if there is any advice I should yield warning to before I embark on my reformating journey. I know I need to reformat to Mac OS X Extended Journal. Should I erase 7 times over? Or is that overkill? Will I still have the applications (omnioutliner, etc.) that my MBP came with or does the install disk not contain those? Anything else I should be aware of (I am a bit nervous).

Also should I reformat my ext. harddrive which is 7200 rpm/fw800 (faster than internal) to boot Mac OS?

 

[Mernak]

A bit more info would be nice. Are you reformatting to sell the computer, or reinstalling the OS? and the external doe it have data on it? basically what are you doing with them. Also what computer(s) are you using it on

The install disks should have all the programs that you started with and I keep at least a small bootable partition on the external drive to be a good insurance policy.

 

[aquajet]

It's not really necessary to reinstall unless there's something seriously wrong with your computer, you install a new hard drive (in which case, you could clone your old drive to the new drive), or you plan to sell/give away your computer. In the latter case, it's best to zero your drive for security reasons.

 

[Jeef690]

Reinstall. I am trying to simply do some maintainence/cleaning and attempt to remove the buzz (of which I read that reformating was a remedy) that I have had for 6 months strong. I eventually want to have only my FCS, Gimp, and Office programs on my laptop HDD and all content/storage on the external. Ill port necessary video/images for clients when necessary.

 

[Mernak]

Then don't bother zeroing out the HD. You can also not install the trials of Office and iWork if you don't need them, along with languages, printer drivers and other apps that you don't use If the external HD is FAT32 and you don't need windows compatability then go ahead and reformat it to HFS(+) otherwise do not bother.

 

[Jeef690]

If I decide to reformat, as I am still unclear over what to do, will I run into any registration troubles on downloaded shareware/FCS/other software I would be reinstalling.