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Safely reformatting hard disk without much hassles involves developing a good habit in data management activities.

Single partition (C: only) will mean trouble when reformatting hard disk. Double partition (C: and D:) is usually a better approach.

For those who have only 1 partition (C: only) still have a chance to add another partition without reformatting hard disk. Partition Magic will do an excellent, as long as we have sufficient hard disk space. Yet, creating another partition (including resizing partitions) will require some time, but usually less than 1 hour.

It's better to store all data files in drive D:, the second partition, leaving C: only for programs. My Documents can be set to always store the files in drive D: by setting its properties. Just right-click on My Documents folder, and direct the storage to D: from the window that appears on screen.

Next things to be cautious when reformatting hard disk is to back-up all Favorites/Bookmarks, e-mails from MS Outlook Express/Windows Mail or other e-mail applications, and Windows Contacts file.

Any saved [game] data, if they are important, must not be left behind.

And it's always better to put sensitive files in separate partitions (like D:) to avoid problems when the hard disk is to be reformatted.

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