Hidden spot on hard drives?

Kirk Strauser kirk at strauser.com
Wed Oct 5 20:04:44 PDT 2005


On Wednesday 05 October 2005 01:44 pm, Jonathon McKitrick wrote:
> the company where I work (with Windows) is evaluating a copy protection
> product that stores info somewhere on the HDD where the [1] user cannot
> touch it, [2] a format will not erase it, [3] and Norton Ghost will not find
> it.  

1) No such animal.
2) Ah - the bootblock, as others have mentioned.
3) Of course, that doesn't say anything about Ghost v$(current + 1).

To be blunt, your vendor is lying to you.  At best, they can make copying less 
convenient than otherwise, but can't stop a dedicated cracker.  Why, then, 
would you want to make life more difficult for your paying customers while 
barely slowing those capable of doing you the most harm?

One thing I learned while growing up through the C=64 and Amiga days is that 
copy protection never, ever, EVER works.  Ever.  Under no circumstances.  It 
only makes your legitimate users (deservedly) hate you.  Are you sure that's 
what your company really wants?
-- 
Kirk Strauser
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