Can hard drives be damaged by some malware?

CCan hard drives be damaged by some malware?

  • Total voters
    6
S

soumyaxyz

Broken In
bout 15 days ago the hard drive of my desktop crashed (it was round 9 yrs old) . I dont that machine personally (and its is a OLD machine) so dont know if any syntom was visable. OS win7 32 bit

For the last couple of months my HP Dv6165 (1.5 yrs old) was some times freezing up during use, didnt have time to investigate. last week (it has not been used 4 bout a week then) it refused to boot (evn frm xtrnal media) . The service center diagnosed that its hard drive has crashed (hurray !!). OS win7 64 bit

just I notice this laptop (a 5 yrs old lenovo r61) freeze up for a moment just like my Dv6 twice in the last hour. I usually use this laptop for my Linux needs (currently dual boot between windows an ubuntu). Now am using the win 7 os in this machine . OS win7 32 bit / Ubuntu 13.04


All the win 7 system are/were protected byMicrosoft security essentials. which, according to the service center lady and the mechanic who fixed my desktop, is not secure enough.

So forgoing my earlier conviction, I wonder if its possible for malwares to phisicaly damage the hard drivers?

thoughts?
 
W

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
^^no such malware exists which can physically damage hdd.to physically damage a hdd one has to perform millions of read & write operations per second continuously for a week at least & there is no such malware & even if it were to exist i seriously doubt that anyone who can even turn on a pc won't notice it.
 
Hrishi

Hrishi

******************
whitestar_999 said:
^^no such malware exists which can physically damage hdd.to physically damage a hdd one has to perform millions of read & write operations per second continuously for a week at least & there is no such malware & even if it were to exist i seriously doubt that anyone who can even turn on a pc won't notice it.
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There are more possible ways to damage a HDD apart from extreme wear and tear. THere is a PCB in your HDD as well , which contains a Flash Memory CHip. This chip can be re-programmed and AFAIK , its reponsible for controlling the most critical operations in the HDD like aligning the Heads , etc.
Although can't say if that would count as a 100% physical damage but for many users it'll render the HDD useless.

I have read about this scenario in couple of forums years ago.
 
OP
S

soumyaxyz

Broken In
whitestar_999 said:
^^no such malware exists which can physically damage hdd.to physically damage a hdd one has to perform millions of read & write operations per second continuously for a week at least & there is no such malware & even if it were to exist i seriously doubt that anyone who can even turn on a pc won't notice it.
Click to expand...

I too believe that such malware don't exist .But the fact that Stuxnet existed made me doubt my belief. It proves that provided a high enough payoff its plausible that such a malware can be created.
But I do acknowledge that it is highly improbable that an active hard drive can be damaged without the user noticing.

still I will like to hear more thoughts. :)


on a related note should I switch to some paid anti-virus [if yes then suggestion] ?

Rishi. said:
Yes physical damage upto an extent is possible, in certain cases. Though your daily viruses are not capable of such feats.
Click to expand...


Rishi. said:
There are more possible ways to damage a HDD apart from extreme wear and tear. THere is a PCB in your HDD as well , which contains a Flash Memory CHip. This chip can be re-programmed and AFAIK , its reponsible for controlling the most critical operations in the HDD like aligning the Heads , etc.
Although can't say if that would count as a 100% physical damage but for many users it'll render the HDD useless.

I have read about this scenario in couple of forums years ago.
Click to expand...


so what do you think happened in my case coincidence or malware?
 
K

kkn13

Cyber Genius FTW
May be a bios virus which made your hard drives spin at different speeds or something and hence it crashed due to wear and tear or a protection feature in the hard drives
 
W

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
@Rishi,do some research before jumping to conclusions.seagate hdd have upgradeable firmware but this can only be done from DOS not from within windows & WD doesn't even have that except for some of its usb hdd models & those too can be updated only by using WD's own tool which does a verification & download files directly from internet.btw for your information WD drives firmware is not located on the logic board as most people think & main part of firmware is stored on the platters in so-called Service Area.

@soumyaxyz,stuxnet took control of the hardware which in its case was centrifuges(kinda like merry go round) & increased speed of their rotation to damage them but do remember that centrifuges are made to rotate & with a variable speed.there is no software in this world which can make a 7200rpm hdd parts rotate at 10000rpm.

whether paid or free AV the most important thing is common sense of the user without which even all the AVs in the world somehow working together won't be able to protect your pc.don't click on nonsense,never click on any popup even to close(close from taskbar),stick to reputed/known sites,learn how to correctly use noscript addon with default whitelist setting in firefox,always keep your windows/ms office/browser/flash updated,ditch java unless absolutely necessary & keep it updated,ditch adobe pdf reader & use some other small not-so-known pdf reader(i recommend sumatra pdf).for paid AV i suggest kaspersky or bitdefender but make sure to try the trial version first because on some systems they just don't work.for free i recommend avast or avira.
 
Hrishi

Hrishi

******************
whitestar_999 said:
@Rishi,do some research before jumping to conclusions.seagate hdd have upgradeable firmware but this can only be done from DOS not from within windows & WD doesn't even have that except for some of its usb hdd models & those too can be updated only by using WD's own tool which does a verification & download files directly from internet.btw for your information WD drives firmware is not located on the logic board as most people think & main part of firmware is stored on the platters in so-called Service Area.
Click to expand...

WhiteStar , I am not sure about current OS like Windows 7 , but in earlier versions of Windows there were some rare viruses that damaged the Chip on the Drive. ( I have done my bit of research. Let me know if you want to know about the source.)
Although , If you are talking in context with modern gen OS and Drives you may be true.
 
Nerevarine

Nerevarine

Incarnate
Rishi. said:
WhiteStar , I am not sure about current OS like Windows 7 , but in earlier versions of Windows there were some rare viruses that damaged the Chip on the Drive. ( I have done my bit of research. Let me know if you want to know about the source.)
Although , If you are talking in context with modern gen OS and Drives you may be true.
Click to expand...

LEGIT Links or it never happened
 
Nerevarine

Nerevarine

Incarnate
OP, just forget it.. Viruses like these does not exist in modern day OS with good enough antivirus...
1998 computing was full of loopholes, i was expecting something that existed today when I asked for links :/
 
Hrishi

Hrishi

******************
Nerevarine said:
OP, just forget it.. Viruses like these does not exist in modern day OS with good enough antivirus...
1998 computing was full of loopholes, i was expecting something that existed today when I asked for links :/
Click to expand...
So much for the expectation.. :rofl: haha
 
OP
S

soumyaxyz

Broken In
apparently the electric voltage in my house is too high and is damaging my computers :(

whitestar_999 said:
whether paid or free AV the most important thing is common sense of the user without which even all the AVs in the world somehow working together won't be able to protect your pc.don't click on nonsense,never click on any popup even to close(close from taskbar),stick to reputed/known sites,learn how to correctly use noscript addon with default whitelist setting in firefox,always keep your windows/ms office/browser/flash updated,ditch java unless absolutely necessary & keep it updated,ditch adobe pdf reader & use some other small not-so-known pdf reader(i recommend sumatra pdf).for paid AV i suggest kaspersky or bitdefender but make sure to try the trial version first because on some systems they just don't work.for free i recommend avast or avira.
Click to expand...

I agree with what said an already followed most of 'em.[used to use foxit; now i use chrome's built in prf reader :) and as a java programmer I cant really ditch java :p]. and I decided its time for some paid anti-virus cover so kaspersky IS-14 it is :)
 
bssunilreddy

bssunilreddy

Chosen of the Omnissiah
soumyaxyz said:
apparently the electric voltage in my house is too high and is damaging my computers :(
I agree with what said an already followed most of 'em.[used to use foxit; now i use chrome's built in prf reader :) and as a java programmer I cant really ditch java :p]. and I decided its time for some paid anti-virus cover so kaspersky IS-14 it is :)
Click to expand...

Voila your problem solved...
 
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