Scan disk/ disk repair feature?

[mystmaiden]

I hope this is the right forum for this. I am getting ready to wipe and reformat a Windows xp box that had a Horrible virus. Do I need to check the hard drive for errors before installing a linux type OS? Or would any errors be taken care of by the wipe? If I do need to do a scan disk, will Knoppix live accomplish the task? (if so, how do I proceed..)

Thanks much, I know that's a lot to ask, I just want to be sure I have every trace of that virus gone and everything in order before I go any further.

mystmaiden

[Harry Kuhman]

A Linux install that deletes all of the existing partitions will remove any virus that is on a partition (as long as you let Linux have the entire disk and don't retain old microsoft partitions). There is still the chance for a "rootkit" or MBR virus that lives outside the partitions and is linked to through the master boot record. Rewriting the MBR should make you safe from any of these.

And there is even a small chance now of malware that has installed itself in the motherboard BIOS space, outside of the hard disk system. I have not had to deal with any of these, don't know of a fix, but it would be a good idea to check for any BIOS update from your mother board manufacturer and install the most recent BIOS update, just is case, and to avoid any problems the BIOS update fixes.

[mystmaiden]

No partitions on the machine, and I'll be wiping it clean - so that should clear that part all right. I'll check with the manufacturer on the bios part. I hadn't thought of that.

You mentioned 'Rewriting the MBR should make you safe from any of these. ' - if I wipe the whole computer.. is that automatic?

One of the reason I was asking about the disk repair or scan disk is when all this started, I had to power down the machine the Wrong way because nothing else at all would work and it was completely frozen. I'm not sure how much and what kind of damage that does.

Thanks much for your help, I really appreciate how quickly you posted the answer, too!

mystmaiden

[Harry Kuhman]

You mentioned 'Rewriting the MBR should make you safe from any of these. ' - if I wipe the whole computer.. is that automatic?

When you first install Linux to a system it should install Grub or Lilo, and should put it in the MBR unless you take the option to store it elsewhere. I would think that should be enough to get past any MBR virus, although I'm not completely certain. Just to be safe, if you have an old DOS floppy (or a version of DOS that you can boot from CD), you could boot into DOS before installing Linux and issue the command FDISK /MBR which should rewrite the MBR (assuming a rootkit isn't smart enough to prevent it).

One of the reason I was asking about the disk repair or scan disk is when all this started, I had to power down the machine the Wrong way because nothing else at all would work and it was completely frozen. I'm not sure how much and what kind of damage that does.

Generally powering down this way does no real harm, but may leave some files open or even cause data loss and some OSs want to check the disk on the next boot. Since you plan on completely rewriting the disk I would have no worry about it.

[mystmaiden]

Thanks once again!

myst