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Question

Is it possible to wipe a hard drive from the outside?

Apr 8, 2018 5:21PM PDT

After downloading a trojan, one that seemed to completely disable my antivirus program, I tried talking with some friends who know more about computers than I do. They said the problem is likely isolated to the hard drive and that if I wipe it, there's a possibility that could destroy the virus too. Problem is my computer is unusable at the moment so I can't download or install any programs to wipe the hard drive. So, is there a way to wipe it from outside the computer?

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Like waxing a car outside ?
Apr 8, 2018 5:30PM PDT
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Answer
Wiping The Drive Isn't Hard... But It Destroys All Data
Apr 8, 2018 7:56PM PDT

As long as you're fine with losing all the data on your computer and you have recovery options to reinstall the operating system, all programs, all drivers, and all your important files, then you can easily use a program called Dban, at the link below. Yes, you'll need to prepare the Dban disk on a separate computer but once it's prepared, you place the disk in the CD/DVD drive, restart the computer and the Dban program boots outside of Windows. You then follow the instructions to clear all information from the computer.

https://dban.org/

Once the drive is wiped, then you reinstall the operating system and all other stuff back to its original condition.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Post was last edited on April 8, 2018 7:57 PM PDT

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Answer
Re: wipe
Apr 9, 2018 4:43AM PDT

Just do a clean install of Windows. You'll have to do it anyway after a wipe, so it's just skipping a step that isn't necessary.

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But what about Grif's post
Apr 10, 2018 11:09PM PDT
Here  that has came up as a 404 ?
Is this info no longer viable ?
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Re: Grif post
Apr 11, 2018 12:25AM PDT

Sorry digger, I fail to understand what you mean with a 404. It comes up nicely. But removing a PUP is something else than wiping a drive. So why did you mention it?

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Hi Kees
Apr 11, 2018 3:06AM PDT

I have tried to open the link provided and it sometimes went to the Cnet 404 page ,
I open's most of the time but, sometimes I get the 404 from Cnet , it is intermittent ,
I use the Latest Win 10 and latest Chrome.

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Just tried it
Apr 11, 2018 8:06AM PDT

Just Firefox and no adblockers. It worked on first try., Not that means much.

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Hi Dig,
Apr 11, 2018 9:47AM PDT

Old threads will occasionally do that. If it is an older thread like that one, occasionally when first access by someone that hasn't been accessed in a long time, it may 404 since it is not warmed up. Once it is accessed it should always load, until it becomes dormant again. Simply put, newer threads / popular threads get first dibs at system resources and are continually updated. Older thread that are rarely read or not accessed for a long time, are not going to get the resources like the popular or newer stuff--this is done for system efficiency. Why waste system resources for things that are rarely accessed, right? Grin I hope this makes sense.