On Sun, 08 Mar 2015 15:59:41 -0400, "(PeteCresswell)" 
wrote:

>Per Shadow:
>>>i.e. how to format it and remove whatever nastyware it might be
>>>carrying.
>>
>> Linux. Check it does not have any hidden partitions with
>>cfdisk, then make a filesystem on it. Any filesystem, even ext2. You
>>can always re-format later in Windows.
>
>But that would not address the firmware issue, right?

 No, neither formatting or partitioning will eliminate the
firmware-malware.  From what I understand, it's a rootkit, like a
separate OS, but in the hardware ROM, not in the storage part of the
drive, but then I'm not a malware expert. I just capture the nasty
things.
 Ask one of the resident experts if a firmware hack will affect
Linux, or if the ones in the wild are Windows-only.
 []'s
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