BleepingComputer.com: Data Extraction From infected C Drive

Hi, recently I was infected with the AV Security Suite Virus and was relieved when I found near perfect instructions on how to remove it on this site. Afterwards my comp ran great, I even ran Malwarebytes again just to be thorough. Anyway, yesterday I got a message saying that my computer was shutting down and I had 60 seconds to save my work. Obviously a worm, I searched for this and found that it is in fact either a blaster or Sasser worm.

My computer now refuses to boot windows, in any mode. I tried to do a repair install with no success (37 minute hiccup). Long story short, I've decided to give up and install windows fresh on my system with a full C partition. I did not backup some crucial files.

My question is this: I have a External drive converter box that allows you to plug in your internal hard drive and plug it in to any comp via USB. Will my infected C drive infect a computer that is connected to it, but not using the WINDOWS folders? All I need to do is copy the docs over.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Dave before connecting your infected hard drive to your computer, please let me get some advice from our malware removal team here at BC as to a safe way to do this, without you accidently re-infecting your computer.

Thanks in advance.

Bruce.

Thank you MrBruce.

DAVE_DC, on Aug 19 2010, 04:49 PM, said:

You are welcomed.

Please be patient until a reply is given, it is better to be safe, than sorry.

Bruce.

Hello, I am going to make the assumption you run XP or Vista here.
In some instances an infection may have caused so much damage to your system that it cannot be completely cleaned or repaired. Wiping your drive, reformatting, and performing a clean install of the OS or doing a factory restore removes everything and is the safest action but I cannot make that decision for you.

Reformatting a hard disk deletes all data. If you decide to reformat, you can back up all your important documents, data files and photos. The safest practice is not to backup any autorun.ini or .exe files because they may be infected. Some types of malware may disguise itself by adding and hiding its extension to the existing extension of files so be sure you take a close look at the full name. After reformatting, as a precaution, make sure you scan these files with your anti-virus prior to copying them back to your hard drive.

The best proceedure is a low level format. This completely wipes the drive. Then reinstall the OS.
Use the free version of Active@ KillDisk.
Or Darik's Boot And Nuke

The best sources of Information on this are
Reformatting Windows XP
Michael Stevens Tech
Windows XP: Clean Install

Of course also feel free to ask anything on this in the XP forum. They'd be glad to help.

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2 guidelines/rules when backing up

1) Backup all your important data files, pictures, music, work etc... and save it onto an external hard-drive. These files usually include .doc, .txt, .mp3, .jpg etc...
2) Do not backup any executables files or any window files. These include .exe/.scr/.htm/.html/.xml/.zip/.rar files as they may contain traces of malware. Also, .html or .htm files that are webpages should also be avoided.

Download Belarc Advisor - builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, including Microsoft Hotfixes, and displays the results in your Web browser.
Run it and then print out the results, they may be handy.

Since we don't know exactly which infections we're dealing with here, we should take some precautions before we attempt to move files from the infected machine. Run the following on your clean computer, and make sure you insert your flash drives at the prompt.
Download and Run FlashDisinfector

Please download Flash_Disinfector.exe by sUBs and save it to your desktop.

• Double-click Flash_Disinfector.exe to run it and follow any prompts that may appear.
  
• The utility may ask you to insert your flash drive and/or other removable drives. Please do so and allow the utility to clean up those drives as well.
  
• Hold down the Shift key when inserting the drive until Windows detects it to keep autorun.inf from executing if it is present.
  
• Wait until it has finished scanning and then exit the program.
  
• Reboot your computer when done.

Note: As part of its routine, Flash_Disinfector will create a hidden folder named autorun.inf in each partition and every USB drive that was plugged in when you ran it. Do not delete this folder...it will help protect your drives from future infection by keeping the autorun file from being installed on the root drive and running other malicious files.


Reinstall Windows Vista

Note: Windows 7 Professional instructions recommend you DO NOT use a third-party software to format the drive.

boopme, on Aug 19 2010, 07:33 PM, said:

This is really helpful, thank you. I am familiar with partitioning drives and reinstalling an OS, which is XP sp3 by the way. To clarify, my desktop is the infected computer. I have a clean laptop and a clean external drive. I plan on using the laptop only as a middleman to transfer documents (not .exe) files from the infected C drive to the clean External Drive. I just wanted to make sure that there was no way my laptop could get infected from this transfer. If the answer is no than I will continue with the process and definitely use the Flash_Disinfector.exe on my external.

I will be doing this over the weekend and will post when successful.

Thanks again for your input.

This post has been edited by DAVE_DC: 19 August 2010 - 06:56 PM

Quote

Make sure Flash Disinfector is active when you connect the infected hard drive to the laptop, letting it immunize the laptop and the regular external drive first.

Thanks Chewy