Virus Ruins Hard Drive? - Comments Page 1

Back in the day, there were viri that knew to park the head in a BAD location. Which meant that when the HDD was started back up, it was likely to scratch a chunk of the HDD. Granted this would be a much older computer that must have been seen by the GeekSquad. This soft of virus wouldn't work so well on later HDDs. I would kind of like to see the actual results of their diagnsotics.....

It could cause repeated read/write to certain key areas of the drive that would wear it out faster?

It could also wipe the error tag portion of the HD which would require a full zero fill to fix.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The first one, maybe, but it would take a LONG time to damage a drive that way. The second one is a software issue, which would require formatting.

I have a similar question... I must have a virus, yet I can not find any on my computer. What happens, is my hard drive claims to be full, yet I'm constantly trimming it. Any advice/knowledge on this?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Why do you think it's not really full? Try JDiskReport at http://www.jgoodies.com to get a graphical look at the disk's file and folders.

It depends on what you consider a ruined HDD.
My HDD started out to make scratchy noises intermittently first for say 30 sec and then quiet. Then after a while it start doing it again and after a prolonged time the duration start to get longer, up to the point when you boot up after loading all startup programs the scratchy noise startup immediately and you cannot do anything with the computer. When in safe mode Panda AV,Ad Aware, SpybotSD, Ewido can not find anything. Trying to use kill disk to clean up HDD, the scratchy noise takes over and the program just can not run.
I have two 40 GB disk that have this problem and I would like to donate to some experts to find out what kind of virus it is and most importantly where it is hiding because the Anti virus Panda and AVG cannot detect.
Any one wants to do research on these HDD let me know.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Why would you assume a virus? It sounds exactly like what a failing hard drive would do.

You should also F-Disk it, unless your manufacturer hides the backup software in a hidden partition. All kinds of stuff can be in these partitions, and it can also make your drive seem smaller. Another thing is to reset the Master Boot Record. It is a seperate command in fdisk. These are areas the formatting alone won't erase and nasties can hide there. see Windows Help files, etc. for the exact procedure.

Well, It is true no matter what hard drive you have, If its infected with a serous virus it can ruin the hard drive. When the drive gets put under the abuse of the virus it strains the hard drive and can make it over heat or form bad sectors inside of the hard drive making it unreliable.

Is it probable that it happened to your hard drive? Most likely not. My first opinion for you would be to back up your data on a CD disk or External hard drives and Zero out the hard drive. To do this simple back up the info, and put in your OS Windows disk, Boot from disk, and then do a Full format of the Main OS hard drive. Should take 1-2 hours depending on your hard drive size. Once that is done, Reinstall your Drivers first, and then the programs you had before you reformatted.

Some hits and pointers. Make sure you make a list of all your recent programs that you have, And download them all before you reformat. To find your drivers, Just simple find your computer model number and google it for its drivers. Also make sure you have all of your documents, pictures, video's and w/e else your going to need, remember all information will be lost..

Also, a little more information to help you. To help you determain if sectors on your hard drive is bad or not, you can check it yourself.
1. Go to Start Menu
2.Click on "run"
3. Type chkdsk in the Open line..
4. Let it run its check, In the end it will give you results on what sectors and how many are bad, and also try to fix them. I recommend doing this before you reformat your computer.

Do this before you reformat. What happens if this checks ok? Well chances are it won't. Almost any hard drive 2 years or older never passes this test. But one thing to keep in mind on another problem. If you have recently been infected with a virus or spyware. Chances are you System registry is completely infected depending on how bad the spyware was. With this being said, YES you will have to reformat anyway to get these viruses out of your computer Or just to get your computer to run right. If you knew what you were doing, Its possible to ovoid reformatting, But because you seems like your a amature. I wont recommend you to dabble in the system registry. its a quick crash course to ruin your computer.

If you insist to keep your computer the way it is and not reformat Or buy a new hard drive? YES there is. I recommend the following. I don't promise you these will fix your current problems. But they will help.

1. Download Spybot from www.download.com, This will try to fix spyware infections and clean your registry of them as well. It does a damn good job.
2. Download AVG Virus Protector. Its free ware and its the best. Its designed by people who care and want to protect you. Its Microsoft recommended. Its been known professionals to use it. Its very good. I'm a gamer and i trust nothing less.
3. Run chkdsk, let it try to fix your hard drive sectors.
4. Run both spybot and AVG completely. Let them solve as much as they can. they will lock down your computer nicely.

I NEED TO FIND OUT IF MY HARD DRIVE CAN BE SAVED,i OPENED A FILE AND BOOM IT WAS A VIRUS,MY COMPUTER IS AT A STAND STILL,NEED ADVICE TO MAYBE SAVE MY HARD DRIVE,AS I HAVE SO MUCH ON IT,THANKS RALPH.

I fix computers all the time. I used to do a good business of it back when pc's were not so cheap. Anyway, I can say with certainty that there is an active virus floating around that infects a drive, and when it is discovered, removal may trigger some sort of destruction sequence. This may sound far fetched, but I have experienced it several times now. Basically I get a computer in for repair that seems to have a boat load of malware, and possibly a virus, it is crippled to a slow grind, no networking. I run through some tests, clear out a little junk first and reboot. The machine reboots and has restored back to the previously bad state. It takes a few hours but I can get it back to a functional, clean'ish state. Some malware still is reinstalling itself, but has been rendered impotent. Seems like the path to recovery.
So, my last test is a deep virus scan. At this point, I get a positive for a virus, unknown, that cannot be removed without restart. I proceed, the computer boots to blue screen, no boot drive found, and the "click of death". Seriously.
I have seen this exact scenario at least four times, including my own home pc. All pc's were running xp. I have seen a few other similar cases, but without one or another symptom.

I have an external HD on my G: port. It was recognized last night and today it is not. No matter which USB slot I try to connect it to, Say "H" port, "H" disappears from the "My Computer" screen. If I unplug from "H" and reconnect to "G", "H" reappears in My Computer as a removeable drive, but "G" does not.

It acts as if the drive has been wiped out to the point that my computer can't detect that it is there. The last thing I downloaded onto that drive is Picasa 2 to upload pictures. I'm using XP and no Anti-virus software.
Please help! I have all pictures of my kid's first 3 years on that drive.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sounds like the drive could be damaged. If it doesn't work in another computer, you may have to use a data recovery service. But first, read this: http://askbobrankin.com/hard_drive_recovery.html

Hi. I have a virus "iexplore.exe" on my computer that is running XP Home. My computer is a Compaq and it is about 2 years old. I had it cleaned but this particular virus, from what I've read, is nearly impossible to remove. I can access my files.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Why do you think this is a virus? That's the filename for the Internet Explorer browser. Do you have any antivirus software now? If not, this may help: http://askbobrankin.com/should_i_buy_antispyware_or_antivirus_software.html