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Vol. 3, No. 22
6-5-03
Since
my report on C-dilla I have received a number of e-mails, both laughing at my
failed attempts to “Prove” that Turbo-Tax was evil and praising my efforts. I have also received many that have
asked: “I know how to reformat, but
what is a ‘low level’ format?”
Bob Sokoler and the retired
`Artman have both often recommended “reformatting and reinstalling” the computer
when “BitRot” (Copyright `Artman) occurs on Windows
computers. In most cases a normal
format is fine, but there are times when a low-level format is in
order.
A low level format is a
relatively simple process; it essentially COMPLETELY removes partitions and data
from your hard drive so that you can reinstall your operating system and
programs. Alas, this is necessary
because of flaws in the Windows operating systems themselves, and because of
little things like viruses and trojans.
The two most common cases
that require a low level format are:
1.
When you are disposing of
your computer and you want to be sure that there is no data left on the hard
drive.
2.
When you have been infected
with a boot sector virus or a track zero trojan or
virus.
The first example is
self-explanatory.
The second is more
involved. Track zero is the first
track on any hard drive. It usually
has 63 or 64 sectors (lets say that each sector is a “File” in the first drawer
of a “File Cabinet”). Your “Master
boot record” contains all the information about what boots, how it boots and the
sequence in which it boots. It also
contains all of the essential data necessary to use your system. It is in the first sector (File) in that
drawer. But, with the exception of
the MBR, that first drawer should be empty so that it will open all of the other
drawers and file cabinets.
A boot sector virus will add
files to the first File (The Master Boot record). In this case a regular fdisk and
reformat will solve the problem.
But some viruses and trojans write to other sectors of track zero. All known Antivirus programs search only
the first sector of track zero of the hard drive (MBR) and go on to track
one. That is why many trojans and
viruses don’t get caught. Other
programs sometimes write to unused sectors of track zero, and thus (if they
write to the same sector) they can cause problems with your computer. C-Dilla supposedly writes to that
sector, as does Norton Antivirus, though this is “anecdotal” and I have not
found that either program does so.
I am sure many of you have
seen representations of data that might look like this:
“11010110001001010”. This is the
language of computing, Digital Input.
The combination of 1’s and 0’s has specific numerical meanings. For example, you might have an IP
Address of 64.120.250.36; this is actually a Decimal (Base Ten) representation
of a Binary (Base Two) number. So,
your hard drive has trillions or more spaces that are loaded with 1’s and 0’s
that represent data. A low level
format writes 0’s to every space in every sector of every track on your hard
drive. Once done, there is
absolutely NO DATA left on your hard drive. It is wiped clean, and there is no
possible way to recover any data that had been on your drive. Thus, any trojans, viruses and data are
destroyed permanently.
It is a very time consuming
process, but again, a regular reformat does NOT destroy all of the data on a
hard drive!
OK, so say you have a lot of
sensitive information on your computer and you are donating it to charity, but
you are hesitant to do so for fear that sensitive information will be recovered
and abused. Or you have a trojan or
virus that you still seem to have after reformatting. You will want to do a low level
format.
WARNING! ONCE STARTED THE PROCESS IS
IRREVOCABLE! IF YOU DECIDE TO STOP
HALF WAY THROUGH, DATA ON YOUR COMPUTER WILL BE
CORRUPTED!
Every
manufacturer of hard drives has a utility program that will accomplish
this. You can download it from
their sites and use it to create a floppy disk. You boot to the floppy disk and go from
there.
How do you determine the
manufacturer of your hard drive? In
Device Manager, under Disk Drives, there will be a model number of your hard
drive, such as WDC WD400BB-00CLB0.
This is the hard drive model number. I did not give the path to Device
Manager because if you don’t know where it is, you shouldn’t attempt a low level
format.
You can tell the
manufacturer by looking at the number:
WD = Western
Digital
IBM =
IBM
ST =
Seagate
MX =
Maxtor
You can also find the model
number on boot up if you have the splash screen disabled and hit pause during
the “Detecting Hard Drive” portion of the boot
process.
In addition to the low level
format tool, most manufacturers have programs that will automatically detect
when a hard is about to fail and it will warn you that failure is imminent. These are included in the
program.
I hope that this has been of
use to you. Again, this is not
something that you should do if you are the least bit
hesitant.
Dan
Dennison
Since Dan described low level formatting this week I thought links to the utilities offered up for download from major manufacturers would be apropos.
Maxtor: http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm
Western Digital: http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#dlgtools
Seagate: http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/B7a.html
Samsung: http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/support/b2c_support_dynamic_links.jsp?eUser=&oid=38723
Fujitsu: http://www.fcpa.fujitsu.com/download/hard-drives/#diagnostic
IBM/Hitachi: http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/english.html?/be_hdd2.html
Quantum: http://pcscomp.com/support/files/qdps102.exe
All of these utilities will
make bootable diskettes that will perform diagnostics that give an error code
you can use when getting the drive replaced (if it’s under warranty) as well as
the option for a low level format.
With some the format is called a destructive test but it’s available in
all of them.
Go out and destroy some data
J
Kevin
Mefford
One of my biggest
frustrations with Linux is the lack of support by vendors. While the idea of free technology is a
wonderful thing, the simple truth of the matter is that in order for Linux to
grow into a consumer desktop operating system it's going to need some support
from vendors who make popular Windows and Mac
programs.
Thankfully some popular
program vendors have begun to see the light and have begun porting their
software over to Linux, via in-house programmers or by opening up their software
to the general public. One good
example of such a vendor is Real Networks and the RealOne
Player.
Until recently, the only way
that you could get the Real Player to work in Linux was through trial and error
by Wine emulation software designed to make programs think that they're running
on Windows. Most of the time,
running apps under Wine would be too big of a headache for most, who would give
up or look for other means to run their favorite programs. Thankfully, Real Networks decided to
port their software to Linux so that it will run natively in the OS. That's right, no emulation, just pure
software baby. And the best part
about it? It's
FREE.
The native version of the
RealOne Player works very well and is very fast. The best part is that it looks and works
just like the RealOne Player that you use on Windows and Mac operating
systems. You can watch streaming
video, play MP3s and listen to your favorite radio stations via streaming
audio. It also has skinning
capabilities and allows you to save your favorite streams as a favorite
location.
While there is no official
support for the RealOne Player for UNIX/Linux (i.e. You can't call up Real
Networks and complain that the player doesn't work), there is a wealth of
information and support in the Community Forums. All you have to do is post a question
and you'll usually get an answer by the end of the day. Best of all its free support, so it
won't cost you a dime.
Want to learn more and/or
see the RealOne Player for UNIX/Linux for yourself? No problem, just check out the links
below:
Download the RealOne Player
for UNIX/Linux:
http://forms.real.com/real/player/unix/unix.html?src=052703realhome_1_1
Note:
Download the .bin file and follow the instructions. There have been some issues with the RPM
file.
Visit the RealOne Player
Community Forum:
http://realforum.real.com/cgi-bin/unixplayer/wwwthreads.pl
Take a look at the RealOne
Player running on my computer (RedHat 9):
http://www.edengelking.com/stuff/realone/realone-mp3.jpg
http://www.edengelking.com/stuff/realone/realone-video.jpg
Note: You
won't actually see video in the screenshot, but I was watching a stream from
WHAS11.com.
Other things to
note:
Please keep in mind that
this software is considered Alpha, which means that it’s considered extremely
unstable. However, after playing
with it for several days I really think that it should be considered a beta
program, as I encountered no problems at all.
This article was written on
OpenOffice Writer, a free word processing program for Windows, Mac and Linux
that is completely compatible with Microsoft Office. Try it today at http://www.openoffice.org/
Q: When I upload pictures from my memory
stick to the PC the picture I get is huge. I would have to have a 36"
screen to see it all, let alone
print it. How do I reduce
it?
The same thing happens when I download pictures from my daughter sent
over the net.
A: You are probably viewing a
high-resolution large-scale image. You need to use imaging software to
reduce the size of the image or just view
it at a reduced scale such as
50%. The size reduction will be specific
to the software, but most of
them can be found as a view option on the
menu
bar.
As far as the emailed
pictures you could ask your daughter to modify
the images to a smaller size
before she sends them. It could also be
as simple as your monitor
resolution being set low, say 800x600, and thus
the images appear
proportionately much bigger.
Thanks for listening.
Hash
hash@ucanweb.com
If you have
tech support questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please
email them to bob@iglou.com.
Copyright 2003,
The 84 Online Team. All rights
reserved. Publication, rebroadcast
or storage is prohibited without prior consent, however you may freely forward
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Information
provided in this publication is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied.
Although the information provided is known to work on most systems, it
may not work on ALL systems. Make
use of any information supplied at your own risk.
The 84 Online
Team is a group of volunteers who provide support for the 84 Online radio
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