Reformat Methods Don't Work?

Reformat Methods Don't Work?
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Subject Author Date
Reformat Methods Don't Work? SueInCincy 12-05-2005
Posted by =?Utf-8?B?U3VlSW5DaW5jeQ==?= on December 5, 2005, 5:43 pm
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I have tried to clear a hard drive (actually three of them) using the
following methods:

--OEM system recovery disks
--full reformat with Windows XP disk
--Three different brands of DOD-approved bootable CD "Disk Wipe" utilities
--A full reformat by a large, well-respected computer repair facility

Followed, of course, by the re-installation of the operating system from
both a freshly purchased Windows XP (with SP 2) disk, and using the
manufacturers' disks.

In each case, a whole host of symptoms tell me, even before the machine is
hooked up to the Internet, that it is not secure. Some of those symptoms
include:

--Many compressed files, with names that include "Java packages" and "Spybot
- SEarch and Destroy Updates" even though Spybot was never a part of the
original operating system
--many copies of .exe Files, like "Windows Management Instrumentation" or
WMI Performance Adapter Service, buried way deep inside very unlikely
folders, several layers deep.

Last but not least, this 80 meg hard drive, as it is being reformatted (and
as it's verified) says there is only one partition, with something like 76
megs.

Is it possible that someone has figured out a way to make a big chunk of the
hard drive invisible to all these different reformatting methods, or am I
maybe missing something?

Thanks for your help and suggestions.



Posted by Lionel Fourquaux on December 5, 2005, 6:13 pm
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> --many copies of .exe Files, like "Windows Management Instrumentation" or
> WMI Performance Adapter Service, buried way deep inside very unlikely
> folders, several layers deep.

Which folders? WMI is a normal part of Windows.

> Last but not least, this 80 meg hard drive, as it is being reformatted
> (and
> as it's verified) says there is only one partition, with something like 76
> megs.

This may be normal. Hard drive manufacturers often use 1000000 or 1024000
for mega, while the OS uses 1048576 (2^20). 80000000/1048576 =
76,293945312...

> Is it possible that someone has figured out a way to make a big chunk of
> the
> hard drive invisible to all these different reformatting methods, or am I
> maybe missing something?

It looks rather unlikely.


Posted by =?Utf-8?B?TWFuZnJlZA==?= on December 7, 2005, 4:58 pm
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been there. Try clearing your bios. (the new ones reset to factory defaults).
Possibly your mac address on your network card is known been there to. Been
there to didn't matter changing isp, e-mail and passwords. Free space virus.

"SueInCincy" wrote:

> I have tried to clear a hard drive (actually three of them) using the
> following methods:
>
> --OEM system recovery disks
> --full reformat with Windows XP disk
> --Three different brands of DOD-approved bootable CD "Disk Wipe" utilities
> --A full reformat by a large, well-respected computer repair facility
>
> Followed, of course, by the re-installation of the operating system from
> both a freshly purchased Windows XP (with SP 2) disk, and using the
> manufacturers' disks.
>
> In each case, a whole host of symptoms tell me, even before the machine is
> hooked up to the Internet, that it is not secure. Some of those symptoms
> include:
>
> --Many compressed files, with names that include "Java packages" and "Spybot
> - SEarch and Destroy Updates" even though Spybot was never a part of the
> original operating system
> --many copies of .exe Files, like "Windows Management Instrumentation" or
> WMI Performance Adapter Service, buried way deep inside very unlikely
> folders, several layers deep.
>
> Last but not least, this 80 meg hard drive, as it is being reformatted (and
> as it's verified) says there is only one partition, with something like 76
> megs.
>
> Is it possible that someone has figured out a way to make a big chunk of the
> hard drive invisible to all these different reformatting methods, or am I
> maybe missing something?
>
> Thanks for your help and suggestions.
>
>

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