All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Does Low Level Format harm for hard disk?Thanks
PostPosted: September 22nd, 2010, 7:13 
Offline

Joined: September 22nd, 2010, 6:58
Posts: 8
Location: China
My hard disk was infected by virus, I tried many antivirus and can't solve this problem, so I want to try Low Level Format software, but others said that Low Level Format is harm for hard disk, is that true? Thanks very much! :?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Does Low Level Format harm for hard disk?Thanks
PostPosted: September 22nd, 2010, 10:36 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: May 7th, 2010, 13:20
Posts: 595
Location: United Kindgom
What is the problem? If you format the hard drive the virus is gone. unless its a MBR virus which since windows XP SP2 it will warn you that the mbr is infected. To remove mbr virus all you need todo is use fdisk command to erase mbr.

Otherwise you might have a hard drive problem. Scann it with hddscan for w!nd0ws with verify and see if there are bad sectors.

_________________
It seems that the unluckiest people in the world are those that don't backup.
Free Solutions
Picasaweb- Pictures and movies | Dropbox - Documents and other..


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Does Low Level Format harm for hard disk?Thanks
PostPosted: October 2nd, 2010, 9:49 
Offline

Joined: February 13th, 2010, 9:44
Posts: 208
Location: san diego, ca.
Formating and Low Level formating is not a problem. There is a Rootkit that installs itself in sectors marked Bad. They must be zeroed out with a utility.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Does Low Level Format harm for hard disk?Thanks
PostPosted: October 3rd, 2010, 7:04 
Offline

Joined: July 18th, 2006, 3:05
Posts: 7537
Location: ITALY
MARKED AS BAD in the filesystem is different from MARKED AS BAD BY THE HDD. In the 1st case they are REMOVED FROM USE regardless of being good or bad and you see it in the FS properties i.e. "32K in bad sectors".
If you DESTROY the FS by zerofilling the drive, the problem will be gone.

MARKED AS BAD by the HDD removes from use transparently the "bad blocks" so , unless this rootkit has low level access to error lists / use factory commands that are drive dependent, it can't access malicious code. This is VERY UNLIKE.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Does Low Level Format harm for hard disk?Thanks
PostPosted: October 4th, 2010, 8:41 
Offline

Joined: February 13th, 2010, 9:44
Posts: 208
Location: san diego, ca.
It is a rare rootkit- but it does exist - it takes advantage of SMART using it as part of the exploit using logical 'bad' sectors. 98% of malware will be overwritten by a clean boot to an OS and then formating- but there are several that do not.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Does Low Level Format harm for hard disk?Thanks
PostPosted: October 4th, 2010, 8:51 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: May 7th, 2010, 13:20
Posts: 595
Location: United Kindgom
warnerr wrote:
It is a rare rootkit- but it does exist - it takes advantage of SMART using it as part of the exploit using logical 'bad' sectors. 98% of malware will be overwritten by a clean boot to an OS and then formating- but there are several that do not.


Whats the name of the rootkit?

_________________
It seems that the unluckiest people in the world are those that don't backup.
Free Solutions
Picasaweb- Pictures and movies | Dropbox - Documents and other..


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Does Low Level Format harm for hard disk?Thanks
PostPosted: October 4th, 2010, 8:55 
Offline

Joined: July 18th, 2006, 3:05
Posts: 7537
Location: ITALY
Well, in this case there's little to do at home and it is easy in the lab :)


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group