My cousin's laptop has been infected with a virus. The engineer says it has to be formatted. Isnt there a way to preserve the files so that they wont get wiped off? How do we do a backup before formatting? Please help us

Hello Friend,

Does the Operating System on the laptop still boot up? If it does, you can simply copy out your files with a flash disk or external harddisk, then reformat the system. If the Operating system is corrupt already and doesnt boot, then try a one-time boot utility to enable you access your harddrive to copy your files. The easiest for you try is the ubuntu Linux Live CD, it will boot up your PC without installing the OS or modifying your PC and you can copy your files. Remember to install an effective antivirus software when you're done reformatting and scan the backup drive before transferring the files back to your laptop.

Thank you. I'll sow the engineer this reply. They are too tech. for me.

Should have done that b4 the infection. . . . Just saying the virus could be a WORM.

check this website may it will help out.Good luck!
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_safely_backup_an_infected_drive.html

Tell the engineer to remove the hard disk of your system, slave it on another system with an up to date antivirus and give it a complete scan, if it did not work then he can format it.

medoski:

Tell the engineer to remove the hard disk of your system, slave it on another system with an up to date antivirus and give it a complete scan, if it did not work then he can format it.

LOLZ! This might work but still. . LOLZ!

10/10 for Medoski. As an IT security guru, the answer you gave is quite good. You get some people on Nairaland that will quickly google an answer and come here to try and look and sound intelligent!

If you want the data, you can restore your system to an earlier date to see if the system and files were not corrupted at that point, if its good then i suggest you copy the files into another disk storage area and run a thorough scan using a good antivirus software , such as Symantec or Nod32. It sometimes best to run the antivirus in safe mode, this allows the antovirus to basically every file in the pc, if satisfied format the original hard drive and reinstall to your OS and hopefully you should be ok.

PS: Always have a backup copy on a seperate hard disk,usb, external hard disk, cd/dvd disc.

medoski:

Tell the engineer to remove the hard disk of your system, slave it on another system with an up to date antivirus and give it a complete scan, if it did not work then he can format it.

but after the scan, he should try access the hard disk, D: document and settings, users, then find the particular log on credentials that the data are contained in and then copy to the C drive.

then format

Techwhiz:

Hello Friend,

Does the Operating System on the laptop still boot up? If it does, you can simply copy out your files with a flash disk or external harddisk, then reformat the system. If the Operating system is corrupt already and doesnt boot, then try a one-time boot utility to enable you access your harddrive to copy your files. The easiest for you try is the ubuntu Linux Live CD, it will boot up your PC without installing the OS or modifying your PC and you can copy your files. Remember to install an effective antivirus software when you're done reformatting and scan the backup drive before transferring the files back to your laptop.

This is the best and most effective (one size fits all).

To the rest of the solutions, the information is too limited to draw a hot-swapping conclusion.  The OP said an engineer examined it and his conclusions were to reformat it. Don't think the person that examined it is totally unaware of a hot-swap.  We cannot query that conclusion unless more information has been given but we can give an "out-of-the-box" alternative.   There has been no query to figure if it's a laptop or desktop.  Is it worth dismantling a laptop for a hot-swap?  If it is a recent HP laptop, this method may not work.  This is not out of nowhere but personal experience.  Recent HP units cannot be repartitioned (to tell you the extent of limit HP put on their units to save cost on warranty).  Most people term anything malicious as virus.  The attack may not be a virus.  We do not know the functions within the parameters of this malicious script.  All we know is that something is wrong and it is working as it is not intended.  An antivirus will only protect you from yesterday's discovery; not tomorrow.  If the OP doesn't have a virus but something else, an antivirus is of no use.

If the unit boots up, a liveCD is the most appropriate.  OS runs off through disc/USB & RAM and the non-executables can be sifted.  The tree-like structure of the Unix environment will not permit anything malware to execute and multiply.  Flush the OS and reinstall when done.

Techwhiz:

Hello Friend,

Does the Operating System on the laptop still boot up? If it does, you can simply copy out your files with a flash disk or external harddisk, then reformat the system. If the Operating system is corrupt already and doesnt boot, then try a one-time boot utility to enable you access your harddrive to copy your files. The easiest for you try is the ubuntu Linux Live CD, it will boot up your PC without installing the OS or modifying your PC and you can copy your files. Remember to install an effective antivirus software when you're done reformatting and scan the backup drive before transferring the files back to your laptop.

best option.

medoski:

Tell the engineer to remove the hard disk of your system, slave it on another system with an up to date antivirus and give it a complete scan, if it did not work then he can format it.

second best. Will def work if done well

Trac:

This is the best and most effective (one size fits all).

To the rest of the solutions, the information is too limited to draw a hot-swapping conclusion.  The OP said an engineer examined it and his conclusions were to reformat it. Don't think the person that examined it is totally unaware of a hot-swap.  We cannot query that conclusion unless more information has been given but we can give an "out-of-the-box" alternative.   There has been no query to figure if it's a laptop or desktop.  Is it worth dismantling a laptop for a hot-swap?  If it is a recent HP laptop, this method may not work.  This is not out of nowhere but personal experience.  Recent HP units cannot be repartitioned (to tell you the extent of limit HP put on their units to save cost on warranty).  Most people term anything malicious as virus.  The attack may not be a virus.  We do not know the functions within the parameters of this malicious script.  All we know is that something is wrong and it is working as it is not intended.  An antivirus will only protect you from yesterday's discovery; not tomorrow.  If the OP doesn't have a virus but something else, an antivirus is of no use.

If the unit boots up, a liveCD is the most appropriate.  OS runs off through disc/USB & RAM and the non-executables can be sifted.  The tree-like structure of the Unix environment will not permit anything malware to execute and multiply.  Flush the OS and reinstall when done.

u are quite right but I disagree wv u when u said it might nt work on recent hp laptops. (Oyibo to se pencil lo se eraser) i.e. The white that manufactures pencil also manufactures eraser. Give me the most recent hp hard drive & I will "hot swap" & recover the files, "partition & repartition" it. Talking from experience bro.

I'm so grateful at all your replies. Thank you.
The engr fixed it, asked us to indicate what files we wanted and the rest he deleted. We are okay with that.
The problem the laptop developed last week was starting up. It only starts when it wants to, now has a mind of its own.lol. It might decide not to boot today and tomorrow, the first trial would see it booting and use-able

Ekiti1:

best option.second best. Will def work if done wellu are quite right but I disagree wv u when u said it might nt work on recent hp laptops. (Oyibo to se pencil lo se eraser) i.e. The white that manufactures pencil also manufactures eraser. Give me the most recent hp hard drive & I will "hot swap" & recover the files, "partition & repartition" it. Talking from experience bro.

I understand where you are coming from and under normal circumstances, it is suppose to work. Unfortunately, I don't have the HP model of the laptop. The tool I was using to partition the hard drive is Paragon Hard Disk Manager. It worked but never completed. A maximum of 4 partitions is allowed per hard drive under MBR. There were only two and every attempt led to an unexpected end. I went on the HP support page and stumbled on one of the HP forums and there was an explanation that the unit is shipped without the adequate drivers to make a partition possible. The lists of drivers and their executables were on that page. I decided not to proceed any further. My only conclusion to this is that HP is trying to reduce warranty cost. If you've got a way to usurp this, I'll believe you but HP isn't worth it.

Trac:

I went on the HP support page and stumbled on one of the HP forums and[b] there was an explanation that the unit is shipped without the adequate drivers to make a partition possible.[/b] The lists of drivers and their executables were on that page. I decided not to proceed any further. My only conclusion to this is that HP is trying to reduce warranty cost. If you've got a way to usurp this, I'll believe you but HP isn't worth it.

kinda surprised. i do believe countless *nix based recovery tools or liveOS would have drivers to access and partition and do whatsoever u wanna with any drive whatsoever.

proper admin stuff is usually better done with unix tools. suggest u look into them to broaden ur skills

4llerbuntu:


kinda surprised. i do believe countless *nix based recovery tools or liveOS would have drivers to access and partition and do whatsoever u wanna with any drive whatsoever.

proper admin stuff is usually better done with unix tools. suggest u look into them to broaden your skills

Your approach of solving the problem will work because the problem is within the installed OS that HP has skimmed or "distilled." What is missing are the adequate "controllers" that is in every installed OS. If you wipe the entire hard drive via Live CD or with the help of another operating system, the job would be complete. This is likened to installing XP using the AHCI route. If you do not default to IDE, you will have to slipstream the appropriate SATA drivers into the install CD/media to be able to complete an XP installation on AHCI. There is a restore partition or restore CD and you will be routed to that option if anything goes wrong. Many would not buy a retail version of Windows. The unit I was dealing was a laptop and going through the experience made me leave it as-is. The HP bells-and-whistles the unit was bloated with was more of a concern to me than trying to find a way around it, plus there might be unknowns. So, the hardware is not the problem but the "castrated" OEM installation. I think the same goes to the HP tablets also (I had just one owner tell me that it is too restrictive).