Virus infected external harddrive

[insane1532]

My computer got infected with a virus, so i backed up my files onto an external hard drive and wiped out the desktop hard drive.
Now the external drive seems to be infected, with my only copy of all my files on it. When i try to access it from any computer, it says that its corrupted and unreadable. I really want to extract all the files in on that hard drive, its really important to me!!! Should i take it over to a professional? or is it finished??!!!

 

[strella]

Likely you backed up the virus. Likely there is nothing wrong with the drives, just the data on them.

If the external HD can be connected to a Win XP or 2K you can do an online anti-virus scan. The reputable A-V makers have them, F-Secure, Sophos, Trend ...

The one I like is at

http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml

 

[wahnula]

I would first image the infected drive and then try to repair or access the cloned image.

http://www.runtime.org

has a free image app and good advice, or you can use Ghost or True Image. If BIOS sees the drive there is hope. There is a very small chance that virus-scanning the drive before imaging could do permanent damage to the files, I would not take that chance with my data.

Tony

 

[Freestone]

A shot in the dark, but did you happen to have program GoBack installed on your PC prior to the format?