hard drive reboot

[bikenut]

Dave,

does yer average pc have a slot internally to take another drive?

Sounds like an ideal solution, you could keep all your important stuff on the spare drive, run from the other so if you got hit with a virus you don't risk all your files. Like backing up as you go.

Bikenut

[Tog]

Any virus will probably put itself on any hard discs it can find, therefore fitting a new one to transfer to will infect it (plus if you transfer all your files as is the virus gets a free ride!)

Any suspect drive that you cannot 'debug' should be pulled out and installed as a slave on another (pref not important) PC, then run anti virus stuff on it there. Because it is no longer a boot drive it should not infect the proper boot drive.

When upgrading to a new drive you can put it in as a slave as long as you are sure that your Boot C drive is virus free. And run the HDD install on the machine as is (use the HDD install from the maker if poss).

I prefer to do a clean boot from a W98SE floppy and run the makers HDD install routines from the CD's rather than using the old C: (poss infected) drive.

Once you have a nice new clean Boot HDD with W98SE or XP on it you can reinstall your old C: drive as a slave, virus scan it & grab whatever files you want off it.

Then delete all the stuff you dont need and use it as backup or data storage for piccys etc - keeping your boot disk clear of clutter.

Tog