Verified answer

most likely yes. try this

get a small usb drive thats Empty about 256mb. The virus is a Autorun.exe wich automatically copies itself onto removable media

Format it on a virus free pc.

once done right click and go to properties of the usb, remember how much used space there is usually 4 kb or something small. Remember that number

then stick the usb drive in the infested pc, wait 5sec and check the properties again if its larger than what it was when you remembered even by 5 kb then it does transfer and your usb is infected.

you can always install Linux MINT alongside windows and drag files from the windows file to the HDD.

Duh linux wont remove it but if you copy files from the external hdd to a usb connected to linux the autorun .exe wont get copied

if you are doing this through linux you have nothing to worry about

2

It's very possible if you move infected files to the external hard drive. However, most music files and such may not contain a virus. However if you're using some kind of downloader like bittorrent or something besides itunes like that you may have downloaded a file that looked like a song but was in fact a virus! So if you transwer that particular bad song you may very well have just transferred the virus to that hard drive as well, and thus it will be transferred to the new computer you use to view that file.

As long as you only transfer good files you'll be fine. But as for your question itself: yes, you can transfer a virus to an external hard drive.

Yes, unless you have a really robust antivirus/antimalware software.

I suggest you should copy all your files with or without viruses to your external hard drive. I suppose you want to reformat and reinstall your windows. first remove all the files you want to keep. then, format the hard drive entirely ( complete format) when you reload your windows.

Next, install all the drivers/ software and install any proper antivirus on the cleaned up computer . I myself use the simple and free Microsoft Security essentials. Update and have the windows security logo turn green.

Do not copy the files back yet! Connect the external hd and run a complete scan on it with Microsoft security essentials. Once all the possible viruses / malware are cleaned up, copy the files to your computer. then, if you can , format the external hard drive to have a completely clean system + external device...

Hope this helps.., it may take some time to scan and clean but it's worth the wait.

If you refer to the answer above mine, using linux will not necessarily remove the virus, the virus will still be there , it will not work on a linux system but it will certainly affect your windows system...

They can, but it depends on the virus. Do you know for a fact that you have a virus and know what it is? Maybe your computer runs like crappy due to some other reason.

If it were me, I'd back up your important pictures and documents. Don't backup executables if you can avoid it. Most programs can be obtained on the internet if needed. You could then scan this drive with a healthy system with updated virus detection software if you want.

What you can do is move all the files to the external HDD and then run a virus scan on the external HDD and if no virus' come up the your good. if the virus is on a file that you move over then yes it will move over to the external HDD but if the file that is infected does not get moved to the external HDD then your external HDD is fine.

That's actually a good question.

To be honest, I'm not too sure, but I would recommend that you only transfer the pictures. Games may have some viruses.

Hope this helps

it is possible that they can, yes. that's because the virus is embedded in the operating system and tries to infect every disk possible.

get a good anti-virus program and use it regularly. cnet.com/downloads is the free source and includes reviews.