Virus has make drive inaccessible

[ATTech]

This is an old Dell laptop running Vista. How would I know if it's an encrypted drive? Fujitsu MHW2120BJ

Typically, encrypting software will rewrite the MBR to point to their own login screen, so any attempt to boot the system will bring up an encrypting screen first.

 

[iisjman07]

Typically, encrypting software will rewrite the MBR to point to their own login screen, so any attempt to boot the system will bring up an encrypting screen first.

For an added step of security replace that mbr with the standard windows one. It will of course f*** up because the drive's encrypted, but it won't offer to accept any passwords

 

[RegEdit]

Typically, encrypting software will rewrite the MBR to point to their own login screen, so any attempt to boot the system will bring up an encrypting screen first.

So what is the end result of trying to recover from a failure like this if a drive is encrypted? Just screwed out of luck?

I've heard of encrypting files and folders with True Crypt or Windows built in NTFS encryption but not an entire drive. What are the leading drive encryption softwares?

 

[ATTech]

So what is the end result of trying to recover from a failure like this if a drive is encrypted? Just screwed out of luck?

Usually, the encryption software provides decryption tools in case of failure. It usually comes in the form of bootable disk that will require a admin login to decrypt the drive. If people have full hard drive encryption, they'll know about it because it's an extra login screen at the beginning; It doesn't sound like this is the case.

I've heard of encrypting files and folders with True Crypt or Windows built in NTFS encryption but not an entire drive. What are the leading drive encryption softwares?

This is VERY common in medium and large business that hold sensitive data. There is a bunch of different software that provide the functionality, not really one "leading software." A quick Google search can easily yield a few.

 

[TechguyUK]

Have you had a go with any Linux based utils such as testdisk, ddrescue etc ?

I've often found the PartedMagic live CD to be quite helpful with cases like this.

 

[RegEdit]

I tried Ubuntu. It didn't even see the drive.

 

[othersteve]

This has to be a firmware or hardware problem methinks...

I will be very interested to see how this turns out!