Does Formatting my laptop remove all corrupted files?
- Thread starter ckent
- Start date
- Aug 13, 2021
- 3,342
Yes, formatting your machine and re-installing Windows will in almost all cases remove any infection present on your machine.
The only type of infection that could not be removed that way is a firmware infection, but the likelihood of you having one of those is about the same as you winning more than $1,000,000 in the lottery.
Of course if your current problems are being caused by faulting hardware, then re-installing Windows is also unlikely to resolve things.
The only type of infection that could not be removed that way is a firmware infection, but the likelihood of you having one of those is about the same as you winning more than $1,000,000 in the lottery.
Of course if your current problems are being caused by faulting hardware, then re-installing Windows is also unlikely to resolve things.
Maybe. Maybe not.
It depends on the type of formatting used. A "Quick" Format simply clears the journal and file tables, and marks the entire disk as free space. It does not go through the entire disk (or partition). This is why a "Quick" format is much quicker.
But the data is still there and can be recovered with file recovery software - or a bad guy! Re-installing the OS will overwrite ONLY those storage locations used during the OS installation. The locations that go untouched will still contain the previously stored data - until overwritten by another file.
"IF" the previously stored data is only corrupt (and not infected) a "Quick" format is probably fine. But if there is a chance the previous data still contains any malicious code, a "Full" format would be advisable - just to be sure.
If there are any "new" bad sectors on the disk (new since the drive left the factory, or was last formatted using the "Full" format option) a "Quick" format will not find them. This typically is not a problem.
If me, since you said there was a virus, I would do a "Full" format before installing the OS. A "Full" format touches each storage location, clears the files/data completely from the drive/partition, rebuilds the file system, volume label, and cluster size, and scans the drive/partition for logical bad sectors, marking them as bad (and unavailable) if any new are found.
The downside is a Full format may take awhile - especially on a large drive. A 2TB drive, for example, could take 2 - 3 hours or even longer. Still worth it, IMO.
Umm, we are talking about a hard drive, right? And not a SSD? Typically a "Quick" format is recommended for SSDs. This stems from first generation SSDs suffering from write limits of those drives. But newer generation SSDs don't suffer from such limits (except, maybe, in very busy data centers) so I would still do a Full format before installing the OS.
It depends on the type of formatting used. A "Quick" Format simply clears the journal and file tables, and marks the entire disk as free space. It does not go through the entire disk (or partition). This is why a "Quick" format is much quicker.
But the data is still there and can be recovered with file recovery software - or a bad guy! Re-installing the OS will overwrite ONLY those storage locations used during the OS installation. The locations that go untouched will still contain the previously stored data - until overwritten by another file.
"IF" the previously stored data is only corrupt (and not infected) a "Quick" format is probably fine. But if there is a chance the previous data still contains any malicious code, a "Full" format would be advisable - just to be sure.
If there are any "new" bad sectors on the disk (new since the drive left the factory, or was last formatted using the "Full" format option) a "Quick" format will not find them. This typically is not a problem.
If me, since you said there was a virus, I would do a "Full" format before installing the OS. A "Full" format touches each storage location, clears the files/data completely from the drive/partition, rebuilds the file system, volume label, and cluster size, and scans the drive/partition for logical bad sectors, marking them as bad (and unavailable) if any new are found.
The downside is a Full format may take awhile - especially on a large drive. A 2TB drive, for example, could take 2 - 3 hours or even longer. Still worth it, IMO.
Umm, we are talking about a hard drive, right? And not a SSD? Typically a "Quick" format is recommended for SSDs. This stems from first generation SSDs suffering from write limits of those drives. But newer generation SSDs don't suffer from such limits (except, maybe, in very busy data centers) so I would still do a Full format before installing the OS.
FreeBooter
Member
Full format will write zeros to sectors to wipe data on the drive.
A quick format allows you to overwrite any files on the drive, but it does not fully erase them; with the right software, the old files could be recovered.
A quick format allows you to overwrite any files on the drive, but it does not fully erase them; with the right software, the old files could be recovered.
Just to be clear, beginning with Windows Vista, a "Full" format does write zeros to the entire disk effectively deleting all the data on the disk. So the "effect" is similar (and for most users, just as safe/secure and effective) as a genuine "Wipe" program. But it is not a true "Wipe".
A true "Wipe" program writes a series of "1s" and "0s" to each storage location on the disk. Writing a series or multiple 1s and 0s ensures no residual magnetism that might represent previously saved data, remains.
The most basic Wipe makes one "pass" across the entire disk. This is more than adequate for everyone but Russian's paranoid FSB or the highest military secrets which may require (by regulation only) many (even up to 30 or more) passes.
It should also be noted that every new save to the disk overwrites those storage locations too. So simply saving a tune or video will overwrite (and obliterate) the previously saved data in those storage locations.
But frankly, if one is that paranoid they feel they need to Wipe with more than one pass, a better solution would be to simply destroy the drive in a hard drive shredder. These are much faster and more fun, even mesmerizing, to watch anyway.
A true "Wipe" program writes a series of "1s" and "0s" to each storage location on the disk. Writing a series or multiple 1s and 0s ensures no residual magnetism that might represent previously saved data, remains.
The most basic Wipe makes one "pass" across the entire disk. This is more than adequate for everyone but Russian's paranoid FSB or the highest military secrets which may require (by regulation only) many (even up to 30 or more) passes.
It should also be noted that every new save to the disk overwrites those storage locations too. So simply saving a tune or video will overwrite (and obliterate) the previously saved data in those storage locations.
But frankly, if one is that paranoid they feel they need to Wipe with more than one pass, a better solution would be to simply destroy the drive in a hard drive shredder. These are much faster and more fun, even mesmerizing, to watch anyway.
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