Rescue disk or boot disk ?

[Jennifer]

Hi, I recently had a virus on my computer that wouldn't allow me to boot-up. I'm going to reformat my hard drive (it needed to be reformatted anyways) Can I reformat using the software program that came with one of my hard drives? Or is that just a low level format? I don't have a boot disk only a rescue disk, is there a difference? Thanks in advance for your answers.
Jennifer

[Randy_tx]

If it were mine, I would create a Windows 98 Startup disk from a friend's machine and add the following files: format.exe & fdisk.exe -they can be placed on the same Win98 Startup Disk (fdisk might already be on there, but to be sure go ahead & copy it). The way to create a start up disk: Go to Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs....Third tab over is StartUp disk. To add the format & fdisk....go to "Find" just above the Start menu and type ea. of them in.....then copy to floppy. This disk will allow you to include CD Rom support which you need to install windows. First you will want to delete the Partition in fdisk and then create a new one (active) and then format the HD....then install Win http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[This message has been edited by Randy_tx (edited 03-23-2001).]

[Jennifer]

When I ran the format.exe using the find option, it never showed up. Do I need to have that. I have a rescue disk if that's the same as a boot disk? Is the software that came with one of my hard drives good enough to reformat with? I feel at a loss. Thanks for getting back to me Randy, I've read some of the post here and I can see that so many are willing to help, this site rules http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Randy_tx]

Hmmmm.........lets see here.......Ok, when you go to Find just above the Start button (well about 5 items up)...be sure to choose "Files or Folders" and THEN be sure to check the "Look In" box to make sure "C" is the choice, not anything else.....then type format.exe in the search box and IT HAS TO find it !!! You DO have to have format.exe to format a Hard Drive....nothing else will work http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[Jennifer]

Well I just tried it again using the find option, making sure it's looking in the "C" drive and it's not finding anything. Is there a place on the web where I can download a copy of a boot disk?

[Randy_tx]

You should be able to get the file from ANY windows 95B-98 computer by going to FIND...do you know someone with a computer that you can get it from? My brain may be in neutral....maybe someone else can give you some ideas ........hang on till some responses come in.

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[WarHog]

You can get a copy of a boot disk here. (http://bootdisk.com/) It's also a nice site to find some great utilities. Good luck

Dave

[Jennifer]

Thanks Warhog for the great site, and thank you Randy for being so patient with me. I'll try to go with a reformat now. Just out of curiosity why couldn't of I used the format software program that came with one of my hard drives? Excuse me for being so ignorant about all this.

Jenn...

[Randy_tx]

The type of format "usually" contained in Hard Drive packages is a Low Level Format......that type of format is NOT Windows compatible...It is used only to wipe EVERYTHING off the drive and prepare it for a regular Windows 16BIT or 32BIT format. Not recommended unless you are VERY experienced doing a LL format!

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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[Paleo Pete]

You didn't find it because it's format.com not format.exe. It's in c:\windows\command. It's also always included on the win98 start up disk, I've used it way too many times and never added a thing, always just made a straight start up disk. Format is one of the utilities loaded into the ramdrive created by the start up disk, along with fdisk, edit, scandisk, mem, and several others.

NOTE: ALWAYS write protect your start up disk! Any boot sector virus hidden on the hard drive will write itself to your start up disk if not write protected. Shutting off power can also occasionally write garbage to the disk.

The drive installation utilities referred to do not format the drive. They will partition it, but you have to use the start up disk or a DOS boot disk, depending on your OS, to format it. The Low Level Format referred to is actually a "zero fill" utility. It writes all 0's to the drive. No true low level format utility is available, that would render an IDE or SCSI drive useless, since it would overwrite the mapping of sectors and tracks on the physical platters, which is what the low level format originally done at the factory does. Once done, it should never have to be done again.

Before starting, make sure the virus is actually removed, if possible, and make doubly sure you make a start up disk from a clean computer. If the virus you found is of the above mentioned boot sector variety, they usually load into memory once the OS is loaded, then write themselves to any floppy disk made on the machine. Do not use any floppies written on this machine after getting it back up and running. And again, only boot to a WRITE PROTECTED start up disk. I can't stress that strongly enough. You already have a virus to deal with, don't let it write itself to your boot disk.

Booting to the start up disk is the only way to fdisk and format the drive without the virus interfering, and if it is a boot sector or stealth virus you will have to fdisk and repartition to remove it completely. Formatting alone will not do that, since it does not rewrite the partition information or master boot record.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Jennifer]

Thanks for the explanation Paleo Pete, I see now that it is much more evolved then I expected. I'm glad I posted here and got advice on this. I've tried the format.com command in the find option like you said and you are right it is there. Hopefully sometime today I will have that computer up and running. Again I thank all of you for your help.


Jenn...