Reposted from Hardware :My old HD - can i get it up and running?

mycarisfaster · Sep 24, 2006

One and a half years ago i had to replace my old HD, motherboard etc due to a particularly nasty virus, so as expected all my info was lost. Can anyone tell me if it's possible to reinstall this HD back on my pc with full Norton AVP to hopefully recover my info bearing in mind that this virus which wrecked my BIOS will still be there - or will it? If so how do I go about it?
PC details:-
WinME
Firefox
AMD Duron(tm) Processor, Model:7 (Athlon), 1302.6 MHz

chaslang · Sep 25, 2006

What was the name of the virus that "wrecked" your BIOS? Personally I have never seen any that actually did this.

If the drive is slaved off of a well protected system and as long as you do not RUN any applications stored on that drive you are probably okay. Since you are running Windows ME and even safe method would be to copy the files you want after booting to a DOS prompt.

mycarisfaster · Sep 27, 2006

chaslang said:

What was the name of the virus that "wrecked" your BIOS? Personally I have never seen any that actually did this.

If the drive is slaved off of a well protected system and as long as you do not RUN any applications stored on that drive you are probably okay. Since you are running Windows ME and even safe method would be to copy the files you want after booting to a DOS prompt.
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From memory, bearing in mind it was nearly two years ago, my pc wouldn't even 'beep' let alone boot up, finding the actual virus was therefore impossible. At that time I chose to update my pc with new m/board/CPU/HD etc rather than try to restore it. The shop that did the work said the BIOS was ruined.
I can manage to boot to a DOS prompt but have no idea how to copy files from that point, tho I have seen it done, I don't have knowledge of DOS commands unfortunately.

chaslang · Sep 27, 2006

It would probably be easier for you to just connect the old hard disk to your current system as a slave drive and then copy what you want off of it. However, this is not a topic for this forum. If the original hard disk really did have an infection and your current system is now properly protected, it is unlikely that copying doing this would cause any problems. It would probably be a good idea to start by doing a full scan of the old hard disk to look for any malware.

mycarisfaster · Sep 28, 2006

chaslang said:

It would probably be easier for you to just connect the old hard disk to your current system as a slave drive and then copy what you want off of it. However, this is not a topic for this forum. If the original hard disk really did have an infection and your current system is now properly protected, it is unlikely that copying doing this would cause any problems. It would probably be a good idea to start by doing a full scan of the old hard disk to look for any malware.
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Thnx a lot chaslang, yes I have Norton AVP fully updated and never suffer problems, I felt that it should be possible to connect as a slave and run a scan but needed to vet the idea with someone who knows a bit more than I. Once again thnx for your time.

chaslang · Sep 30, 2006

You're welcome! Check out the below for some tips on keeping youself protected:

How to Protect yourself from malware!

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Reposted from Hardware :My old HD - can i get it up and running?

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chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

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chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member