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General discussion

question on external hard drive and antivirus

Jan 9, 2006 3:49AM PST

I have an external hard drive, which is not installed yet. My question is when I scan my computer with my antivirus program, will it automatically scan the new hard drive?

Also, if a virus is detected on the external hard drive, will the whole computer be infected too?

Discussion is locked

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RFK, The Scan Can Be Made Automatic
Jan 9, 2006 4:17AM PST

Generally, virus scans are directed by the user. All antivirus programs I'm familiar with allow for an option to scan multiple drives. You'll need to confirm that the scan is checking ALL drives instead of just the C: drive.

If a virus gets on your external hard drive, then it WILL usually pass to other portions of the computer's drive set up. BUT...It depends on the virus and a number of other things. If an infected "file" was detected on the removable drive, it doesn't necessarily mean that the virus was "executed" and therefore caused an infection on the rest of the machine but it depends on the circumstances of how it got there. If you're going to be moving the external drive from one computer to another, YES, it's possible to spread viruses from one to another from the external drive.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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question on external hard drive and antivirus
Jan 9, 2006 4:25AM PST

I have an external hard drive, which is not installed yet. My question is when I scan my computer with my antivirus program, will it automatically scan the new hard drive?
==============
Based upon the AV I use if I use the default scan the answer is YES.

If I use the optional scan I can tell it what to scan and what not to scan.

So I guess you have to look in the options of "your" AV prog and see what it's going to do.


Also, if a virus is detected on the external hard drive, will the whole computer be infected too?
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Yes/no/maybe.
Depends on what kind of malware your pick up.

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Depends on how you use your external drive.
Jan 9, 2006 7:43AM PST

In order to avoid contaminating my external hard drive, I scan my "C" drive with an Anti-virus program before putting anything into my external drive, which is always turned off except when transferring data from my main drive.

Jayfin

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external drive
Jan 10, 2006 10:52PM PST

I personally use an external drive for a backup for and only plug it in to make a copy of any added info to the computer and dont use the software. Hate the clutter on the pc if its not necessary for use. If you have xp You should be able to run the antivirus on the drive whenever to insure its clean when its connected and the power is on to be seen in the my computer screen. Otherwise as already stated you can probably make the antivirus scan yours automatically if its always connected with power. The same princaple also applys to defraging the drive. if its on and connected it will show up with your other drives (such as the C drive)for you to defrag. I use a Ion Iogear 40gb external drive for its durability and small size.

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question on external hard drive
Mar 21, 2011 1:48PM PDT

i have also external hard drive, is that possible to put an antivirus on external hard drive? so that everytime i use different computer it wont pass virus to my external hard drive and can scan automatically?
need help. thank you.

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No, that's not possible.
Mar 21, 2011 7:42PM PDT

Antivirus is installed on and runs from a fixed hard drive.

Connecting your external drive to a PC that possibly has malware is a risk. But, in fact, all PC's possibly have malware, because no protection is 100%. So it's always a risk.

Kees

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I agree with Kees
Mar 21, 2011 8:18PM PDT

So if your external drive is at risk by connecting it to multiple, possibly malware infected, computers, all you can do is to re-scan it every time you re-connect it to your own computer, before opening any files from it.

If you are using Windows, make sure Auto-Run is disabled.

Mark

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If it is working as a extra drive
Mar 21, 2011 9:45PM PDT

I think if a external hard drive is considered as a one extra drive of your computer then yes it can be scanned by antivirus software as it does for other external equipments like pen drives, cds, dvds.

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That's Not What Was Asked
Mar 22, 2011 3:10AM PDT

The question was: "i have also external hard drive, is that possible to put an antivirus on external hard drive?" It's not whether the onboard antivirus program will "scan" an external HD, but whether an antivirus program can be installed ON IT.

Still, although I haven't used either of the items below, there do seem to be a few programs which might work on an external drive.

Just a note.. McAfee provides a USB flash drive antivirus program which installs on flash drives which use the U3 format. it protects the USB drive from infection. On the other hand, external hard drives don't use the U3 program so that doesn't really apply here but it is similar information. I also believe that Clamwin provides a "portable" version of it's antivirus program. I'm not sure whether it actually "runs" automatically when plugged in but it does appear to have a scanner which can be run after the drive is activated.

http://home.mcafee.com/Store/PackageDetail.aspx?pkgid=269

http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/clamwin_portable

And that may be the key here.. There are a number of portable applications but I'm not sure ANY of them actually run "realtime" when plugged in.. They're basically standlone scanners. Examples are in the link below.

http://www.pendriveapps.com/software/portable-antispyware-malware/

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Thank you all for the replys.
Apr 11, 2011 2:20PM PDT

Thanx for the advice Kees, Mark, Grif. i dont have my own pc so i manage to store my files on External HD portable to carry wherever i go. i will try Grif the website you gave me. thanx alot all the help. hope i can find one for my external HD. Happy