How to clear data from a hard drive sector?

XPletive · April 28th, 2003

Maybe one of you gurus could point me in the right direction.

Many months ago I installed Turbo Tax. As some of you
may know, it came with a nice little "extra" feature called
CDilla, which wrote data to sector 33 on my hard drive.

I still suspect that there is a conflict between that data and
a couple of other hard drive programs I'm using.

How can I clear that data from sector 33?

Thanks.

**Enyo** · April 28th, 2003

I was under the impression it writes to the MBR in which case fdisk /mbr or fixmbr or fixboot should correct the problem.

You could try using diskprobe from the support tools.

Edit: Disk Probe is now my firm bet. You should be able to open sector 33 and write over the data. Refer to disk probes help file before you do anything!

Check out www.spywareinfo.com/forums/

You may be able to get direct help on removal instructions. Ive seen various methods before.

Also Check out www.lavasoftsupport.com some discussion can be found there.

http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index...=2452&hl=dilla

Spyware info news letter:

http://www.spywareinfo.com/newslette...an-2003/09.php

C Dilla mentioned in Jan.

Check out the two forums see what you can find

**yoyo** · April 28th, 2003

This site says the only way is a low level format. Don't know if they are right.

http://www.geocities.com/turbotaxsafecast/

XPletive · April 28th, 2003

Thanks Enyo. I couldn't find any specific info. about removing the sector 33 data in any of those forums. Initially they suspected that it was writing to the MBR, but it doesn't.

Extemetech was able to change the sector 33 data, as stated
in their article:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...,881243,00.asp

"So to verify what was going on, we made a copy of that sector, scribbled it with random ones and zeroes, and restarted the system. It booted just fine. But when we attempted to invoke TurboTax, SafeCast decided that things were definitely not kosher."

Rather than just overwrite the data with random information, I would like to remove the data if possible. I'm not sure how they overwrote the data in the first place.

Yoyo: I heard about the low level format... Scary that I may have to resort to that. Hopefully I can solve it in another manner.

**Enyo** · April 28th, 2003

Your on XP/2K right?

With the article in mind i would use Disk Probe as stated above to open sector 33 and write over the data with 0's. You can do so, ive just tried it in read only mode.

Should be OK but anything written in that sector will be removed.

You could open sector 33, save the data as a file then write over it. If that creates a problem open the file back up and write the data back.

XPletive · April 28th, 2003

OK. I'll give Disk Probe a try. It will be interesting to see what it finds.

Silvio · April 28th, 2003

Now that you mentioned it , i installed 3D studio Max 5 and it "came" with Cdilla too, so, i have my ideas but could you tell me what does it do?

XPletive · April 28th, 2003

My only experience with Cdilla comes from Turbo Tax. I've read that they're are different ways it can be implemented. In my case
it had two major effects.

1. Turbo Tax would not run unless the Cdilla process was also running. This wasn't a problem, because Cdilla installed itself so it would start every time I booted. (without notifying me of course).

2. The data in sector 33 of my hard drive is apparently a serial number, or registration number that Cdilla / TT reads to determine if you are "allowed" to use TT on this particular PC.
TT will not run without the correct data at sector 33.

April 28th, 2003	Top \| #1
XPletive bbbb-ring... Joined: December 2001 Posts: 237 Reputation: 0 Power: 130	How to clear data from a hard drive sector? Maybe one of you gurus could point me in the right direction. Many months ago I installed Turbo Tax. As some of you may know, it came with a nice little "extra" feature called CDilla, which wrote data to sector 33 on my hard drive. I still suspect that there is a conflict between that data and a couple of other hard drive programs I'm using. How can I clear that data from sector 33? Thanks.

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April 28th, 2003	Top \| #2
Enyo OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: February 2003 Posts: 1,338 Reputation: 330 Power: 130	I was under the impression it writes to the MBR in which case fdisk /mbr or fixmbr or fixboot should correct the problem. You could try using diskprobe from the support tools. Edit: Disk Probe is now my firm bet. You should be able to open sector 33 and write over the data. Refer to disk probes help file before you do anything! Check out www.spywareinfo.com/forums/ You may be able to get direct help on removal instructions. Ive seen various methods before. Also Check out www.lavasoftsupport.com some discussion can be found there. http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index...=2452&hl=dilla Spyware info news letter: http://www.spywareinfo.com/newslette...an-2003/09.php C Dilla mentioned in Jan. Check out the two forums see what you can find

April 28th, 2003	Top \| #3
yoyo _________________ Joined: July 2002 Posts: 1,557 Reputation: 160 Power: 136	This site says the only way is a low level format. Don't know if they are right. http://www.geocities.com/turbotaxsafecast/

April 28th, 2003	Top \| #4
XPletive bbbb-ring... Joined: December 2001 Posts: 237 Reputation: 0 Power: 130	Thanks Enyo. I couldn't find any specific info. about removing the sector 33 data in any of those forums. Initially they suspected that it was writing to the MBR, but it doesn't. Extemetech was able to change the sector 33 data, as stated in their article: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...,881243,00.asp "So to verify what was going on, we made a copy of that sector, scribbled it with random ones and zeroes, and restarted the system. It booted just fine. But when we attempted to invoke TurboTax, SafeCast decided that things were definitely not kosher." Rather than just overwrite the data with random information, I would like to remove the data if possible. I'm not sure how they overwrote the data in the first place. Yoyo: I heard about the low level format... Scary that I may have to resort to that. Hopefully I can solve it in another manner.

April 28th, 2003	Top \| #5
Enyo OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: February 2003 Posts: 1,338 Reputation: 330 Power: 130	Your on XP/2K right? With the article in mind i would use Disk Probe as stated above to open sector 33 and write over the data with 0's. You can do so, ive just tried it in read only mode. Should be OK but anything written in that sector will be removed. You could open sector 33, save the data as a file then write over it. If that creates a problem open the file back up and write the data back.

April 28th, 2003	Top \| #6
XPletive bbbb-ring... Joined: December 2001 Posts: 237 Reputation: 0 Power: 130	OK. I'll give Disk Probe a try. It will be interesting to see what it finds.

April 28th, 2003	Top \| #7
Silvio Argentinean Dogo Joined: March 2004 Posts: 156 Reputation: 20 Power: 101	Now that you mentioned it , i installed 3D studio Max 5 and it "came" with Cdilla too, so, i have my ideas but could you tell me what does it do?

April 28th, 2003	Top \| #8
XPletive bbbb-ring... Joined: December 2001 Posts: 237 Reputation: 0 Power: 130	My only experience with Cdilla comes from Turbo Tax. I've read that they're are different ways it can be implemented. In my case it had two major effects. 1. Turbo Tax would not run unless the Cdilla process was also running. This wasn't a problem, because Cdilla installed itself so it would start every time I booted. (without notifying me of course). 2. The data in sector 33 of my hard drive is apparently a serial number, or registration number that Cdilla / TT reads to determine if you are "allowed" to use TT on this particular PC. TT will not run without the correct data at sector 33.