Question Can malware/viruses etc jump to a locked but plugged-in external drive?

[_dawn_chorus_]

So if plugging a dirty USB device into your computer can potentially infect the hard drives, can it reach a locked but plugged in external drive?

Specifically, I keep my personal and sensitive documents on a couple Samsung T5/T7's that are always plugged into my computer which I try to keep squeaky clean, so if anything happens I can just nuke the C drive and everything else is there, or if it gets stolen then the crooks won't have my life's work to pawn off too.
I am always hesitant to plug any USB thats touched another computer into it , but if the external Samsung drives are locked but plugged in, can any virus or malware infiltrate them? Or would it need to be unlocked to become infected too? and by "any" I mean anything that might be targeting random people who aren't rich or work for a lucrative corporation.

 

[helpstar]

Everything can be hacked, but it´s a bit more likely that your drive has to be physically somewhere, where someone could hack it directly with the hardware. like jtag it or similar.

if it´s locked, none should be able to write or read from it. if you unlock it, to backup or read from it, the malicious system where it´s plugged in could infect it easily too.

 

[MJS WARLORD]

Unless you are using an external device be it a flash drive or a hard drive it should be kept in safe place and not connected to your pc. The reason for this is if somebody is trying to hack something on your pc they do not know if the device is inside the main case or on the outside.

If you are worried about wear and tear or your usb sockets get a short usb lead and leave in permanently connected to the usb socket of your pc , that way the usb will get any wear and tear instead of the socket on your pc.