Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!pyramid!prls!philabs!ttidca!hollombe
From: hollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: hard disk going bad
Keywords: st251,disk rot
Message-ID: <3225@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Date: 28 Sep 88 19:40:27 GMT
References: <16941@vax5.CCS.CORNELL.EDU>
Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcb.tti.com (The Polymath)
Distribution: comp
Organization: The Cat Factory
Lines: 21

In article <16941@vax5.CCS.CORNELL.EDU> u2zj@vax5.CCS.CORNELL.EDU writes:
}Will a low level format be likely to help a fixed disk that is going bad?
}I have a Seagate st251 (40 Mb) disk that has recently begun to sour.
}(20 bad clusters in the last 2 weeks).  My warranty runs out Oct 20.
}The company says they will "refurbish" it if I send it to them.  Is 
}refurbishing in my case (since the disk is readable) just re-formatting?

I've heard of at least one computer virus that hides on a fixed disk by
marking sectors bad and copying itself into them.  If you can examine the
contents of the bad sectors with a disk editor that might reveal or
eliminate a virus as the source of your problem.

If it is a virus, it's vector is probably still lurking around your
installation somewhere.  A low-level format will probably clear it off the
disk, but you could be re-infected.

-- 
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@ttidca.tti.com)  Illegitimati Nil
Citicorp(+)TTI                                                 Carborundum
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.   (213) 452-9191, x2483
Santa Monica, CA  90405 {csun|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe