Yep, I would rather have a root canal filling that start from scratch again, it is an extreme measure and not one to take lightly.
When I got this system, I effectively started from scratch even with comprehensive data backups (hard drive imaging software), etc. It still took me three days (a bit at a time) to get my new system setup like the old one, all the customisations in OS, programs, etc. etc. I could have just tried restoring my last hard drive image backup and cloned the new hard drive. But that was likely to cause some hiccups, not least the OS License, hardware drivers, etc.