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#31
ok, I see you did quick Format..
Let me explain some basics:
There are 3 types of Format:
1. High level format (AKA quick format) (type done by Windows)
2. Mid level Format (some people refer to it as Low level) (done by 3rd party software)
3. Low level Format (done only by manufacturers, as if wrongly used my break your HD)
So, you did 1. High level format.
So, High level Format will not erase all Data, but just mark sector as available, but OS can't access it. Some special programs can access and recover date from High level format.Wikipedia said:
So, Windows will mark the sectors as empty and available to use, and when OS will try to write something on it, it will erase it and then write.Wikipedia said:
2. Mid-level format. (also referred as Wipe)
It will fill sectors either with 1s or 0s...
So it will Actually erase the Data from HD.
Now coming to your question, can virus survive High level format?
hmm... You will get different answers as it's complicated subject.
In theory, yes it can..
Let's see what happens.
1. Windows will do high level format and mark whole HD as empty and available.
2. So Virus still on HD but inaccessible by normal means
3. You reinstall Windows.
4. It may erase your virus, If Windows will be installed on that sector (as when Data written on High level formatted sector it will first erase inaccessible Data on it.)
5. You install write your programms and Data, It may erase virus (According to above rule)
6. Let's suppose virus still survived.
OS (Windows) can't see or access it as it sees it as empty space.
That means OS can't execute it, so it can't do any harm by itself.
So according to some theories even if virus physically on HD it can't do anything as it's inaccessible for OS and just like ghost which will be overwritten and erased when it's sector (place) used...
7. Theory number 2.
There are some programs which can get (recover) Data from High level formatted HD.
As Data is physically there.
So theoretically Virus can be recovered aswell.
But there comes some obstacles:
Firstly, Virus can't recover itself as it can't access OS or execute.
So it should be recovered by 3rd party software:
1. If you use some special program and recover erased Data (which you will not do)
2. Special virus targeted to recovering that particular virus from High level format.
We will forget First option, as you will not do it.
Second option...
As you can see it's theoretically possible to virus survive and reactivate after High level format.
But in my opinion it's far fetched theory for home-user.
Why?
Because:
1. In order to Virus recovered you should AGAIN get infected by Special virus-recoverer
2. It should be special virus so it Should know what and where from to recover
3. It's unusual to you get infected by both of those special viruses
4. This theory will probably work only on targeted attacks
5. Very uncommon for Home user getting this kind of targeted attack.
6. As far as I know, this has never has been seen on the wild.
But in theory it's possible.
If you are getting Targeted attack it will be a lot easier for virus write to target BIOS viruses. (That can't be killed even by mid-level HD formats or even low level as it targets BIOS not HD)
more info on BIOS virus:
New BIOS Virus Withstands HDD Wipes - Tom's Hardware
Still BIOS virus is uncommon aswell.
But I am not security expert but just computer enthusiast So I am may be wrong on some points.
ok, Let me explain Why it shows 465GB instead of 500GB
You see you Manufacturer defines storage by SI prefix, according to which 1 GB=1000000000 bytes (10^9)
But most OS s including Windows difeines storage on Binary prefix which is 1 GB= 1073741824 bytes (2^30)
on simple terms:
For manufacturer: 1 KB = 1000 bytes = 10^3
For OS: 1 KiB= 1024 bytes = 2^10 (Althought it will still say KB instaled of KiB)
So according to this rule:
For Manufacture:
1 GB = 1000^3 = 1000000000 bytes
500 MB = 1GB/2 = 500000000 bytes
For OS:
1 GiB = 1024^3 = 1073741824 bytes
500000000/1073741824 = 0.4656661 GB
0.4656661 GB * 1000 = 465.666 MiB
Now you see why it shows 465 MB instead of 500 MB
Hope you will understand me.