Can external HDDs get viruses?

[jcup]

Hello, I just got a virus and wiped my HDD and reinstalled Windows 8 and it appears the virus is gone (no more pop-ups or extensions) but I realized I had my extrnal Seagate HDD connected the whole time and didn't wipe it. What is the chance of the virus being on it too?

 

[Gaming God]

depends on the nature of the virus or malware you are dealing with.
If the virus has codes with which it copies itself to all the hard drives or partitions or external storage devices then it'll copy itself to your HDD.

its safe to do a virus scanning on your drive . Prevention is BETTER than Cure

 

[smorizio]

most virus you have to open or copy the files to another drive. if you have a clean install of windows and a full scan is fine dont worry abut it.

 

[a44arana]

well, if the virus spread to the drive then yes. most viruses will make copies of itself inside windows folders, but to be safe i would scan the whole drive with a good virus detection program like trendmicro housecall or something similar.

 

[cozmium]

Entirely depends what the virus is and how it spreads. To answer whether it's possible, yes it is - a virus/malware/etc files can copy to anywhere they are programmed to. Just don't run anything suspicious and give it a scan with an up to date antivirus of your choice and you should be fine.

 

[jcup]

Well my external didn't have much on it. And I don't see ANY signs of a virus present. Do you guys think I'm g2g?

 

[Gaming God]

Well my external didn't have much on it. And I don't see ANY signs of a virus present. Do you guys think I'm g2g?

scan for viruses to be more sure. it will not take much time. 😉

 

[jcup]

Well my external didn't have much on it. And I don't see ANY signs of a virus present. Do you guys think I'm g2g?

scan for viruses to be more sure. it will not take much time. 😉

Do you recommend anything to do that?

 

[a44arana]

avast antivirus is what i use.