Formatt xp hard drive

dan2002

hi I need to formatt a hard drive on computer ,it windows xp ,but there is a virus which I cant get rid off so I want to reformatt the hard drive ,have tryed to reinstall xp but because there is a restore partition it will not let me formatt the full drive so every time I restore it with the XP disc this virus keeps coming back.I have tryed to delete this partition but it wont let me do that, please do'se anyone out there know how I can just put a fresh copy of XP on to a hard drive,thanks

pepperjulie

Have you tried turning off system restore and trying to remove the virus then?

IvanOpinion

What virus do you have ... there is (nearly) always a cure

Ivan

fairytooth

3 options as I see it:

Re-formatting as you suggest but in setup delete the partition before install
Take the opportunity to buy a replacement (bigger?) hard drive
Run A/V software if you have some

dan2002

hi tryed antivirus no good ,tryed turning off restore and deleting virus's but every time I delete the virus and restart it just comes back as I think they are in the recovery partition and I cant delete this (it wont let me delete it even if I try to restore windows)or let me get in to it ,The virus is a [ win32.bettlnet ] if no one can help I will just have to buy a new hard drive

albertross_2

assuming that you aren't getting reinfected from dodgy media, or internet connection after installation, and you have definitely got a restore disk that doesn't require the recovery partition. This should wipe the HD completely, including partition tables, and data.

http://www.cbltech.ca/downloadform.php

it could always be a false positive, what scanner are you using, and what is the full path of the detected filename.

dan2002

hi I have been told to use set up in dos using a 98 bootup disc got that got to puttin in smartdrv.exe but told to change A drive to the cd drive D I cant get the thing to let me change it to D drive ,have you done this before if so can you please tell me were I am going wrong

Bonecracker

As XP is not DOS based I cant see how this would work but I may be wrong I always use my restore CD provided with my PC and that formats the drive before ghosting my PC also you may have the Windows XP disc and this can perform a format when you boot from this.

Just make sure you have saved all important info as a format will delete all your hard work and music photos etc.

dan2002

hi there is nothing on computer but using the xp disc I cant delete the recovery partition and this is were this virus is I keep installing xp and when I restart computer the virus keeps coming back helpppppppppppppppppp

albertross_2

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2063300&postcount=6

IvanOpinion

Found this if it is any good
http://forums.techguy.org/security/429691-win32-bettlnet.html

Life used to be so much easier when you simply did a low level format of a hard disk. Sometimes on the hard disk manufacturers sites they have special utilities to wipe a hard disk .. try that

Ivan