Never been tempted to format any of my PCs, from Windows 3.something, '95, 98se or XP, which I am currently running.

I suppose that, if I were an inveterate Installer of assorted Games and different Software every couple of weeks, it might become necessary, but I'd put that down to my own fault for incompetent housekeeping.

As I upgrade my PC often it can be a couple of times a year, but as I have an SSD drive which just has my Operating system and programs its a simple process to reinstall.

March 2005 Medion never been formatted

Only time I ever format is brand new drive that comes without being formatted or rescuing old drives from U/S machine to reuse as external storage.

I used to reformat my Win 98 machine every 6 months. XP lasted about a year before it became a total dog.

I only reformatted my Jan 2007 bought Vista laptop in February this year when a nasty bit of malware caused all sorts of problems.

I wonder if as time has gone on I've done less tinkering with my PCs, so they've not been damaged as much by repeated hardware & software changes...