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    Virus on driver CD for external hard drive?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by slowlydrifting, Nov 2, 2006.

  1. slowlydrifting

    slowlydrifting Notebook Enthusiast

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    I decided to use a new external hard drive and when I initially plugged it in my computer recognized that something had been plugged in but it didn't show up right away under My Computer.

    I inserted the little driver CD that came with it (I wasn't sure if I needed to or not) and opened that and when I did so my Virus Scan (Norton) popped up saying that there was a file with a trojan in a folder called Win98 on the driver CD-ROM and that the Action Taken was "Access to File Denied" (something along those lines). I tried to remove the virus and when I removed the CD-ROM from the CD-drive Norton said that the virus had been removed. So, apparently it is on the driver CD. The external drive itself seems fine. A virus scan indicates that the virus was only on the CD.

    I'm wondering, is the external hard drive still safe to use? I have it plugged in now. When I put the driver CD in I didn't do anything due to the virus on the CD. With other flash memory sticks or external hard drives, I just plug them into the computer and they are functional and nothing needs to be installed and it seems that this hard drive is functional. A virus scan doesn't turn up anything unless the driver CD-ROM is in the computer. I'm a little unnerved by the fact that the brand new driver CD apparently had a trojan on it. Are there any precautions I need to take?

    Thanks in advance.
     
    slowlydrifting, Nov 2, 2006
    #1
  2. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

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    Who makes the drive? Is it USB or Firewire? Have you checked the manufacturer's website and/or support forum? I doubt a major drive manufacturer puts trojans on a driver disk.
     
    kegobeer, Nov 2, 2006
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  3. slowlydrifting

    slowlydrifting Notebook Enthusiast

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    The company is called Kaser. I'd never heard of them until now. It is a USB drive.
     
    slowlydrifting, Nov 2, 2006
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  4. hollownail

    hollownail Individual 11

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    Why do you need a driver for the external drive? It should work by just plugging it in as long as you have the proper drivers installed for your USB ports.
     
    hollownail, Nov 2, 2006
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  5. slowlydrifting

    slowlydrifting Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah, I plugged the external drive in and it works fine. It had come with a driver CD so I put that in to see if it was needed but apparently it has a virus on it. Is the external drive itself safe to use despite the driver CD potentially (probably) having a virus? I scanned the drive and the files on it (just instruction files and whatnot) and that seems to be virus free.
     
    slowlydrifting, Nov 2, 2006
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  6. hollownail

    hollownail Individual 11

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    It should be fine. You could always format the drive just to be safe.
     
    hollownail, Nov 2, 2006
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