What happen when virus strike dual hdd computer ?

Virus will kill both hard drives or only system drive ?

 

Depends on how the virus is coded and what it is supposed to do.

A Dual HDD laptop is like a partioned HDD to the OS.
If the virus is coded to work on several partitions it will affect a second HDD.
If its not it won't.

However, most viruses won't just "kill your computer" - there is no gain in that, they'd rather create a botnet, spy on your bank card info etc.

 

and it won't "kill your harddrives" anyways. it might go onto each drive and try to delete the files. or try to format them all (but as that won't work for C:\ anyways, it most likely doesn't).

but yeah, viruses want to spread. they don't want to kill their host, they want to make it spread the virus to other hosts. and then, maybe, kill.

 

Not necessary true. There could be a virus that kills hardware out there. Dont assume anything.

 

yeah. never seen one before. it would be all in the news, not?

killing hw is nearly impossible, as hw has to be designed to survive any valid use of it. killing a harddrive, f.e., is about impossible. you can write data towards it how often you want. you may kill any data on is, rendering the os unusable, making you lose data. but i've yet to see a way to physically kill a hdd.

maybe by programming a firmware update? yeah, but then you'd have to write that for any disk existing.. but that would be a possible way.. you're right.

 

Also overclocking software can alter voltages to hardware. Why cant a virus do the same?

 

UAC

<10 character limit...>

 

Can UAC be bypassed?

 

Not easily.

But there must be a way... you can control it via the keyboard for example...

So if you can mimic keyboard input... or mouse input...

 

Safer not to assume anything with virus or hacking.

 

Well, UAC is designed to protect system files, maybe you can PM Davepermen he should know more

 

Is he microsoft certified? or more importantly virus/hacker certified?

 

There is doubtless a minority of viruses out there that are meant to damage hardware (search for them), but ultimately what davepermen says is correct; for a parasite, destroying the host is counterproductive to the aims of the parasite, which is to spread virulently. The worst thing that a virus can do, which is worse than damaging hardware, is something that it does often: deleting data.

 

^^More important is the question, how likely is it that you will come across such a hardware-killing virus?
With average computer usage (and I don't mean "NBR member-average"), it's even unlikely to be so unlucky.
It's like driving a car and preparing for a head-on collision with a meteor (or is it comet ).

 

Well there are bios virus out there that damage hardware. Can you assume anything?

 

you would have to write a keyboard driver for that, a signed one, and install it. for that, you would need to bypass UAC..

well, he asked about dual hdds and about killing THEM. i've yet to see a hdd that you can overclock or alter the voltage of it..

 

Still there could be a virus out there. Just like bios virus. Possible though.

 

i guess if you get hit it doesn't matter if it was a meteor, or a comet. or the toilet seat of the MIR..

 

But it is possible that a virus could kill hardware.

 

no. even overclocking or overvolting doesn't kill hw per se.

and it would, again, have to bypass UAC to get that far.

 

Depends how many volts. But can UAC be bypassed?

 

there are some discussions about this. but the general census is, most likely not at all.


personally, i state a simple "maybe".

 

I like "maybe". Good answer.

How do virus infect then? UAC doesnt stop them.

 

So, no, I can't assume that a BIOS is safe.
Then again, if I need a BIOS update, I will take a 'calculated risk' that it's safe (after waiting for a good week to read other folks experiences); I mean, I simply can't decode the BIOS to check it myself for any viri.

I've used a BIOS update once myself for a notebook, which wrecked my on-board NIC (NIC voltage too high->mobo replaced).
Meh, not a virus but lousy coding and testing...

If one takes a peek at hardware-level madness; going to '-1 ring' or '-2 ring', you can imagine that a LOT is possible.
But still, what are the chances?
So, it's not that you have to assume a lot, you simply take calculated risks.

 

most viruses don't want to attack the system, but just the user files. for spying and such.

and, a lot of other viruses use the most weak part of the system: the user.

if i would send you a InstallShootOsamaBinLadenTheGame.exe, you would happily install it, and thus, grant im admin rights by saying yes to the UAC dialog. if that setup is not a setup, but an actual virus, you're, at this moment, out of luck.

 

As others have commented already, while it is possible to write a virus that can cause hardware damage, such viruses are extremely rare. But, yes, it's possible. So what? Using a properly configured and maintained system (meaning all OS security measures, including UAC, in place, installing critical updates when available, and using administrative privileges only when necessary), the risk of infection, and soft- or hardware damage from a virus can be minimized.

You may notice that I did not include antivirus software in my list of security measures above. Compared to the items I did mention, antivirus software adds very little protection against a virus written by a capable cracker. This is because any cracker worth his/her salt wil of course test their virus against existing antivirus software, and make sure the virus goes undetected. In other words, if you do not make proper use of the security features your OS offers, and puts in place by default, then no antivirus, or any other anti-this-or-that software can save you from desaster...

 

^^ what he said.

oh, maybe lets add common sense to it...

 

Assumption was in response to this.

Thats where assumption come from.

 

actually, you assume anything.

just playing with words


there is no economic use for a hw killing virus. viruses have a purpose. and that purpose normally means having an infected, but alive system. bugging the user, maybe, but most likely they try to stay silent, and spread themselves.

 

Well, it is conceivable to package a modified hard drive firmware updater with a virus, and use that to do some nasty things to the drive's firmware. Whether or not this can ultimately lead to hardware damage depends on the specific design of the drive, but the point may be moot since to the average user the hard drive with, say, erased firmware, may appear just as dead as if someone had hit it with a hammer. While it may be technically possible to revive such a drive, very few users would have the patience, let alone the expertise for that...

 

Everything goes thru BIOS. Attempting to stress a hardware component to kill it is impossible. An attempt to flash the bios would be bad but it's protected.

Anyways assume both drives are infected, shut off internet access, don't try to boot from any of these drives... pull out a bootable recovery disk and start cleaning up.

 

indeed. but the amount of work (huge) compared to the gain (0) would not really be worth it.

 

Probably so. but my original statement, "Not necessary true. There could be a virus that kills hardware out there. Dont assume anything.", is still holds.

 

in theory, yes. in practice, no. as stated above, if we assume something, it's about chances. the chance for such a virus to exist is about 0. why should one care about such a chance. if one has a nice backup system, just restore as needed IF something happens.

which won't. ever. happen.

 

Simple: By the user installing the virus. Note that on a properly configured and maintained system, this is pretty much the only way a virus gets on people's systems. The only execption to this rule is the extremely unlikely case where a virus writer hits the jackpot and finds a hitherto unknown system vulnerability and writes a virus to cater to that. The likelihood of that happening to a specific user brings us back to the meteor example...

 

But bios virus exist. So do harddisk firmware virus exist?

 

Certainly. I fully agree that such viruses are unlikely. Information, and the resources available from the users' functioning hardware are much, much more valuable than the hardware itself.

 

I did not assume that there are no hardware damaging viruses, just that they are very rare since viruses are not meant for that. A hacker stands to gain nothing by destroying computer hardware. They are interested purely in information and, possibly, the thrill of intrusion.

 

Maybe so. But are all? So it is possible. That is my point. It is possible.

 

Like 15 years ago there was a virus that wiped your BIOS ROM, rendering the computer unusable. I'd consider that hardware damage, even though with an EEPROM burner you could technically fix the problem.

 

[Shrug] Like I said, it's conceivable, but extremely unlikely. Again, who cares? More specifically, why do you care?

 

existED, i don't know of any actual one. they existed on floppy drives, as a floppy has full 100% system access at boot time.

and i never said it's impossible. just to make you feel good, UniqueQ..

i just said that it doesn't really exist. as it makes 0 sense.

 

Yes, you're right.

 

It was a polite response pointing out that it was possible.

 

OK, you've made your point. Does it have any ramifications for the average home user, or even a network administrator? No.

 

Wasnt really that type of discussion. After all that I have no idea now.

 

it helps to do the main failure people aren't really aware off: spreading fear. false fear.

while tons of things are possible, they are not possible enough to even think about them. making people thinking about them raises fear, paranoya, and allows thus for strange missbehaviours.

 

I wasnt spreading fear. It was a polite response of something that was possible. What is this forum for then?

 

Don't take it personal.
This forum has a lot to offer, quality information, many active and 'seasoned' members, some of them (very) outspoken and many of them very helpfull.
Thus you'll see such responses more often.
When someone experiences a problem, there are many potential causes. Pinpointing the most likely ones, by narrowing/excluding unlikely causes is the first step.
As the topic was aimed at solving an issue and not debating the prevalence of mystic malware, the reactions were outspoken.
Your suggestion, while not impossible was very unlikely. Hence the reactions.
Again, don't take it too personal.

 

problem is, just by stating something is possible, even while being entierly impossible to happen in real life anyways, it spreads so much fear and panik it's unbelievable.

politics depend on that. economy does.