Let's talk about Reinstallation

Installing a system is quite strait forward. The modern operating systems including Linux and Windows are very easy to be installed. You simply put in the CD and run the installation program, answer several questions. Two hours later, you have a fresh operating system to play with.

But reinstallation is another story. Most computers which are required to reinstall a new system are abused. A lot of programs are installed and a lot of files are saved in those computers. Some files might contain virus. So it is important to save those programs, files, and settings of programs before installing a new operating system.

Reinstall a new system in the same folder as the old one without formatting the drive is not a good practice. The old system is broken because of some reason. Maybe the computer gets virus? Maybe the system files corrupt? At least, there are too many useless files in the system folder. If you install the new system in the same folder to replace old one, the useless files are kept to slow down the new system. So the best option is to format the drive to clean up everything before reinstallation. That’s why we need to save data before formatting.