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Answer» I have a 160 GB drive that was in my old Laptop. It had a virus on it. (Wouldn't boot)
I have been able to REMOVE all my data from it.
Would like to use the drive as an external drive.
Microsoft essentials shows it has a virus in the boot file.
I have tried to reformat it, but it still has the boot error. I thought a format would remove everything from the drive. How do I clean everything off the drive? Are their hidden files on a hard drive?
How did you reformat it (step by step)?Formatting a Hard Drive in Windows 7
1. Open Disk Management
2. Locate the Drive
3. Choose to Format the Drive (‘F’ in my case)
a. right-click on it and choose "Format"
4. Give a Name to the Drive (“Storage” in my case)
5. Choose NTFS for the File System
6. Choose “Default” for the Allocation Unit
7. Choose “Perform a Standard Format”
8. Choose “Disable File and Folder Compression”
9. Review Format Settings and Click OK
10. Click OK to Loss of Data Warning
11. Wait for the Format to Complete
12. Confirm That the Format Completes Successfully
13. Use Formatted Hard Drive
(I got this from http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ss/format-hard-drive-windows-7-tutorial_13.htm
Okay, I'm confused. F: cannot by your system drive, and you can't format your system drive from within the OS anyway. So I really don't understand what you did.Hi
As the drive came from a laptop it is possible it has more than 1 partition. Mos likely it will have a 100mb boot partition ( where the virus is ) and a larger c drive and then a recovery partition. so 3 partitions in total.
You would need to erase these and then format the drive as a full 160gb.
There are plenty of windows disk wiping programs available for free like this one http://www.killdisk.com/?gclid=COSKjIroj7oCFYFepQodXyAAUA
For speed use the 1 pass all zeros
Then partition the drive and format it
Regards
Lisamaree
You're assuming the OP removed the hd from the laptop and is trying to format it on another system? Clearly that's possible, but I'd like to know for sure.Just for REFERENCE. A type of ROOT kit can hide in a hard drive.
Quote Spyware, viruses, & security forum: Can any virus survive reformatting the hard drive?
I was warned by a local computer technician that even though the computer scans clean and is working WELL, that I shouldn't put it back on our local network because there is a small region on the hard drive that is not overwritten by normal formatting and some viruses are known to hide there. He suggested that it was still possible for this computer to infect other computers on our network.
That seems difficult for me to believe. All of our computers are running virus scanners. It would seem to me that, at least if it were a known virus, it would be recognized and stopped immediately if it reappeared and tried to spread to another computer.
References available upon request. Those of use who work with mass storage devices understand the above paradox to be true. The OS format is to prepare then drive for a file system, not to remove malware.
NEVERTHELESS, the malware could be from a different source. Flash drives, Printers, Cameras, I pods and almost anything the connects to your PC. Even a video card. *
(*Yes, it has been documented. Some video cards have a firmware space that can be stolen by a Root kit.)
Hello all,
Sorry to be so long in getting back with you. I took the safe way out! I retrieved all my stuff off the drive. I'm very thankful for that. I Did remove all three partitions. Virus scans no longer say it is infected, but I decided not to use it. After-all it is only a 40-50 dollar drive. Just not worth the risk!
I wish to thank each of you for your input. I should know all this stuff, I started building computers back in 1961 for the Air Force and was an instructor for 5 years. Of course that one took up two floors, no hard drive and probably could be replaced by today's laptop, for sure!
Again thanks!Old Chipper,
Good choice. Taking chances with any virus is to be avoided.
As for the boot sector, the format program would not have a need to alter or overwrite the boot sector. Some legacy hard drive layouts lease an undefined area after the boot sector that can be a hiding place for malware.
How to remove a root kit video.
Removing a root kit may destroy data and system files. Watch the video above.
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