Work on seperate HDD?

[Sam1990]

It it possible to do things on an HDD without the other being used. Say you have 2 HDD's and want to switch over between which one you want to use from time to time.

Example: I want to download a program, but not sure if it's infected with a virus, but don't want it infecting my good HDD. Can I run the program on a second HDD (that I have plugged in, but don't care about) without having to worry about the first one being infected?

Pretty much making your main one act as a USB device where you can disconnect it whenever you like.

[Scinto]

Re: Work on seperate HDD?

if you mean like running your OS on one hard drive and all your games running off another, and backups of programs on a 3rd, yes you can do that, its how mine is setup so when XP messes up i dont have to wipe all my game data aswell.

[signa]

Re: Work on seperate HDD?

I would recommend using something like ms virtual pc which is free. it runs a 2nd copy of windows in a window (or full screen) on your computer and works just like the real thing. you can run programs on it without fear of your real OS getting infected by something. It takes up just as much room, so you first allocate a few gigs of space for it, then you install windows on it.

[Vreki]

Re: Work on seperate HDD?

I wouldn't rule out getting infected as long as the second HDD is still accessible.
A smart enough virus might be able to recognize a second windows installation on another drive/partition.

If you want absolute separation, buy a hard disk bay with a couple of trays.
Then you just insert the HDD you want to use.

Or if you have SATA disks you could get something like this:

[TheSpark29]

Re: Work on seperate HDD?

Example: I want to download a program, but not sure if it's infected with a virus, but don't want it infecting my good HDD. Can I run the program on a second HDD (that I have plugged in, but don't care about) without having to worry about the first one being infected?

Won't work. In order for the virus to run, the OS must execute (or be somehow tricked into executing) the virus. So regardless of where the virus physically was, the OS, wherever it is, is running the virus.

Your theroy only works in different operating systems. IE, if you had a second windows partition, if a virus corrupts that, you can just delete it. I would agree with signa if you are unsure about what you are downloading. IMO that's the easiest way. Your 2nd copy of Windows is completely separated from your first one.

[TheHeartSmasher]

Re: Work on seperate HDD?

I would have to recommend running Virtualbox, more options then Microsoft Virtual PC.
But to see your infected you will need to install a second os either on a separate partition, then do a full scan of your entire system using Kaspersky, Panda, Bitdefender, AVG, etc.

[Sam1990]

Re: Work on seperate HDD?

I'll give the Virtualbox or Microsoft Virtual PC a try. I need to have it so I can like, completely block off access to one HDD (like if I were to unplug it) but without actually unplugging it.