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Question

Is there a virus that clears hard drive?

by Jun 30, 2015 9:15PM PDT

Was watching a video when video started glitching so I shut it off, computer flickered and froze. I shut down , Tried to restart computer and it said Windows failed to start., asked to "Launch Start up Repair or Start Normally. Neither worked, Ran diagnostics and came back with Error Code 2000-0142, showing bad hard drive. Tried to boot from my Windows Re-install/Repair CD. Could not find Windows 7 to repair. Decided to try Complete Reinstall and it worked. Has anyone heard of a virus or Trojan that can do this? Delete your Windows so it won't launch. I lost all my file my children's pictures, movies, everything.

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2 Posts
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Answer
More rare today except for Ransomware.
by Forum moderator Jul 1, 2015 7:16AM PDT
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Answer
STOP!
by Jul 1, 2015 7:16AM PDT

Don't so any more to the drive!!!

The files are still there somewhere if you want to recover them. There's a variety of programs like Recuva, Easus, Gparted's DATA recovery (linux), Many others.

The data would still be on the drive most likely, just lost the record of where they are stored, so they aren't seen by the system. They have to be refound.

If you know how to burn an ISO image file to CD or DVD, then go to another computer and get a Mint Linux 17 MATE 32 bit ISO download for free and burn the image to the DVD. Boot from it and try the GParted Data Recovery program in it. You should also have an external drive or large enough flashdrive connected USB to make copies of all files found first.

If you don't know how to do this, find a friend who does.

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