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What must I do before reformatting a drive?

Before you Reformat a Drive

If you need to reformat your hard drive, and wish to retain the contents, you must copy EVERY file you want to keep to another device.

Don't forget the files and folders you have floating on your desktop! (I once lost my entire Documents folder, by assuming it was present on the hard drive when it was actually isolated on the desktop.) Once you've formatted a drive, there's no going back!

Backup utilities can be helpful in making sure you get it all.

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