External HDD's / Malware Prevention

[Tony Cole]

Hi;

I have an external HDD attached to my laptop all-day, is there any way of stopping malware spreading from my laptop to the external HDD, or is simply pullying-the-plug the only option?

 

[Ink]

Don't allow malware to get on your PC, which falls under basic internet security practices.

If you wish to save some power, you can always disconnect any external peripherals when not in use.

 

[FireShootSK]

Everything is possible. Example i 2 years ago got malware who created a lot files and of course created autorun on USB who run malware at every time when i plug it.

 

[frogboy]

Don't allow malware to get on your PC, which falls under basic internet security practices.

If you wish to save some power, you can always disconnect any external peripherals when not in use.

That is a great suggestion i think, it works for me.

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

Hello @Tony Cole. I felt an answer to your question could be aimed toward the prevention of unknowingly transferring hidden infections, in which case unplugging your HDD seemed a sensible prophylactic. This intrigued me as it also seemed logical your external HDD might be able to be protected in a way similar to a Virtual Machine which, as in Virtual Box, can be safely isolated from exposing communicable infections to it's host system.
Perhaps beginning by using barrier preventatives (like gloves) for your system such as Shadow Defender http://www.shadowdefender.com/ or a free program such as Time Freeze http://www.toolwiz.com/en/products/toolwiz-time-freeze/ might satisfy your concerns.
Personally, I always use Sandboxie http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?DownloadSandboxie when browsing.

 

[Tony Cole]

That's brillant, thank you Cats! If I sandboxed the HDD it would be protected against the nasties? Hope you are well. I have a license key for Sandboxie, I shall install it now.

 

[DoxThis]

TBH to prevent alot of crypto ransomware malware I recommend making a backup of your whole drive all partitions and rename the backup file to something that most ransomware wont encrypt eg. .html or something else.
Then when you need to restore just change the file ext back to the normal one and you are set