Can external HDDs get viruses?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
jcup

jcup

Honorable
Sep 1, 2013
322
0
10,790
Hello, I just got a virus and wiped my HDD and reinstalled Windows 8 and it appears the virus is gone (no more pop-ups or extensions) but I realized I had my extrnal Seagate HDD connected the whole time and didn't wipe it. What is the chance of the virus being on it too?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Gaming God

Gaming God

Reputable
Feb 21, 2014
264
0
4,960
depends on the nature of the virus or malware you are dealing with.
If the virus has codes with which it copies itself to all the hard drives or partitions or external storage devices then it'll copy itself to your HDD.

its safe to do a virus scanning on your drive . Prevention is BETTER than Cure
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

a44arana

Reputable
Mar 25, 2014
105
0
4,710
well, if the virus spread to the drive then yes. most viruses will make copies of itself inside windows folders, but to be safe i would scan the whole drive with a good virus detection program like trendmicro housecall or something similar.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

cozmium

Distinguished
Sep 29, 2011
149
0
18,710
Entirely depends what the virus is and how it spreads. To answer whether it's possible, yes it is - a virus/malware/etc files can copy to anywhere they are programmed to. Just don't run anything suspicious and give it a scan with an up to date antivirus of your choice and you should be fine.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
jcup

jcup

Honorable
Sep 1, 2013
322
0
10,790


Do you recommend anything to do that?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom