does clearing your hard drive cause any physical damage to your computer?

Question

this computer was purchased brand new by my grandfather in December of 2005. Since then the hard drive has been wiped out at least 4 times due to viruses, spyware, or simply because the computer would not even display the GUI (except in safe mode). The last time the hard drive was cleared it was simply because the computer was inspected by a technician who reccomended that the hard drive be cleared because there were literally hundreds of viruses, e.t.c. from downloaded programs, and the only way to get rid of them all was to completely clear the hd. But I am just worried because I keep clearing it. Does clearing it cause any damage that may eventually cause you to have to replace it? And is there a limit to how many times you can clear the hard drive? I just really want to know if it is okay to keep clearing it. Because I don't want to keep doing it if it is causing damage.
Also, does having viruses/spyware cause damage to your hd? And if so does clearing your hd erase this damage?

Answer 1

No it won't cause physical damage. But what a monumental waste of time. Use and antivirus program and a firewall and you won't have those problems.

Answer 2

The HD is magnetic storage which means that every time you write on it the media gets more worn. This is why it isn't recommended to format the whole HD often and in my opinion 4 times it a year is often. If you can't help it than do it again but the life expect ency of your HD will decrease if you continue at this rate.
The best way is prevention: always have an antivirus program running and I recommend a firewall as well.
A spyware program is also a must in my view. Since this type of program changes the registry there is a minuscule chance that it might cause problems the operation system or other programs but I have never encountered such a problem. Look at it this way: without one you WILL have damaging addaware, with it there is a tiny chance that you MIGHT have to reinstall a program. I know which one I prefer.

Answer 3

Leme Guess.. It's an E-Machine <*>><*>

If so, You'e not alone. As nearly 80% of then are grosly misconfigured from the factory.

Plysically : No it Can't Damage it (Asuming you aren't attempting to Low Level format it)

However as with ANY Machanical device, The Boot sectors of a Hard drive take a heck of a beating. and Eventually develop Read/Write errors. Once The Boot sectors on the drive get worn out, The drive is shot. (Which is the main logic behind Leaving your computer on all the time) As the boot records are only accessed Normally durring power up.

Answer 4

No. Clearing your hard drive doesn't do any physical damage whatsoever. Neither do viruses, they just cause problems with data, not the physical hard drive. I suggest you get antivirus software (you can find free ones at downloads.com) and backup all of your important files. Once you do get antivirus/spyware software, run scans every week or so.

Answer 5

As computers age, the cache fills, and if not deleted, can slow down the computer greatly. Part of it, however, is our imagination. As computers get faster and we get used to their speed, and it seems they slow down. When memory and hard drive space is contantly used, it may corroupt and become unusable. Their may be many more causes than these. Check out the other answers. Alex

Answer 6

first things first. If you are using internet, use an antivirus, U cant ignore it. Antiviruses wont damage ur PC.

Get used to the fact that you will have to replace your hard disc some time down the line

Formatting does no harm to hard disk unless it is done too frequently.Like 3 times a day.

You should actually format your disk once a month if possible.

Answer 7

To clean your hard drive and eliminate data issues.

There are only two conditional states for computer hardware, one of which is the hard drive.

State 1: It is physically broke, broke as in a egg fell on the floor.
The egg is broke, item cannot be repaired, you must buy a new one.

State 2, software issues. THIS CAN ALEWAYS BR FIXED!

To fix your hard drive.
You must delete all partitions, create new partitions, format the partitions in NTFS.

At this point, there will not be any virus, mal ware, data, programs, what ever, on your hard drive. IOf you have other drives, you must repeate above procedure on every drive in your system.

Copy the following and use them.

Computer Help Page

http://www.diskgenius.com/

http://www.pcbeginner.com/tools/pcdoctor.htm

http://www.pcguide.com/byop/index.htm

http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk.htm

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best/ntfs-boot-iso.html

http://www.disk-image.net/products.htm

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

http://www.winternals.com/

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,25181-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/Windows-XP-PowerPacker.shtml

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,674406,00.asp

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
•http://www.bootdisk.com/utility.htm
•Chapter 1: Purchasing Components
•Chapter 2: Component Overview
•Chapter 3: Installing the CPU, Heatsink, and RAM On The Mainboard
•Chapter 4: Installing The Mainboard In The Case
•Chapter 5: Installing Drives
•Chapter 6: Connecting Components
•Chapter 7: Installing AGP and PCI Cards
•Chapter 8: Testing the System and Completing Assembly
•Chapter 9: Installing Windows XP
•Chapter 10: Configuring Windows XP
•Chapter 11: Installing A Dual Boot Operating System (Linux And Windows XP)
•Chapter 12: Home Video -- “So, You Want to Be the Next Steven Spielberg?”
•Chapter 13: What’s Next?

Answer 8

First, does it harm your computer to completely erase and reinstall windows. NO. The hard drive can handle it.

My question is how is your computer getting so infected. If the version of windows xp that your are installing does not come with service pack 2 then your computer will get infected as soon as you connect to the internet. The necessary fixes in service pack 2 need to be in place before you connect to the internet. So when you get ready to do a clean install (if your windows cd doesn't have sp2) download the sp2 install file and burn it to a cd and run the install file as soon as you finish installing windows xp.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

Answer 9

Clearing the hard drive is no more damaging to the hard drive than using the hard drive. Don't worry about it, it won't affect the longevity of the drive.

Answer 10

inspected by a technician who reccomended that the hard drive be cleared because there were literally hundreds of viruses, e.t.c.is ,& do you pay this technician for the work , hmmmmmmmmmm listen if you had 1000 virus on the pc you dont have to format it you use the best anti virus to make sure your pc never see a virus again , i think this technician is taking you on a road trip for your cash
get the best anti virus and your never see a virus again if you set this up right , dont have that junk norton/mcafee/avg panda they cant stop a cat

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