protecting second hard drive from internet?

J

jonrice

New Member
Hmmm o.k I'm sure this is fairly easy but I'm not sure of the best option to take.I'm a novice so I will explain the best I can.

O.k I make music on my p.c and want my second hard drive to be totaly protected from crap that might mess it up (internet files and such) and use my first harddrive for the internet and downloading files.

I understand you can set up 2 boot devices, one for each hard drive but I assume you can not copy files from one drive to the other if you do this?.

So is there a way of having one boot program (XP)on say drive C: and have say drive D: protected from drive C: but still allowing me to copy files from one to the other.

I would like to have 2 separate boot devices but I need to be able to copy files from one to the other.This, as I understand it will be the best option....I dunno does that make any sense.

any links to articles on this or advice will be most helpfull.

Thanks in advance for any replys.jon
 
Whether you multiboot different versions of Windows or not you can copy files from one drive to the other and back again. The best way to protect a second drive installed without firewall, antivirus, and internet security inplace in the event of spywares, adwares, malwares, or some type of self replicanting I-Worm is simply to unplug it when you plan to be online. For that you would want an external usb drive rather then internal where you simply unplug it from the port. You wouldn't be able to OS an external drive however. Flash drives not external ide/sata drives can be made bootable.
 
PC eye said:
Whether you multiboot different versions of Windows or not you can copy files from one drive to the other and back again. The best way to protect a second drive installed without firewall, antivirus, and internet security inplace in the event of spywares, adwares, malwares, or some type of self replicanting I-Worm is simply to unplug it when you plan to be online. For that you would want an external usb drive rather then internal where you simply unplug it from the port. You wouldn't be able to OS an external drive however. Flash drives not external ide/sata drives can be made bootable.
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That wouldn't really work, since if you have something, and plug the hard drive in and start doing stuff, it would be infected as well.
 
I do it just the opposite. I have my 1st HDD locked up and use ghost every night. The 2nd HDD is for downloads, and I have an external drive where I keep music and "borrowed" dvds
 
if you are running windows that is pretty much impossible with out using a third party utility like deep freeze. The nature of how windows works is pretty sloppy in general and allows a lot of processes to run at root level, and requires that every user (even managed ones) have some sort of root level access.
 
Styrak said:
That wouldn't really work, since if you have something, and plug the hard drive in and start doing stuff, it would be infected as well.
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Once you plug a usb drive back in Windows would first have to redetect and reinstall it in explorer. To totally isolate a drive you would have to have that in a different system without internet connection and network it. But once you copied anything to it that could spread anything that got onto the one that is. Removable media used to copy back and forth can also spread anything as well. usb to usb firewire transfers you name it.

Backing things up regularly on data dvds seems to be the best move if anything does get onto the second or any drive where a reformat could be needed. Hard drives fail at times too. Frequent backups is the widely given advice. Otherwise nothing is ever 100% safe.
 
Thanks chaps, I think 2 boot devices is the way foward for me. At least I can then stream line XP on my music drive and have all my apps running on the faster drive (once I do all the tweaks) and such.

As long as I can copy files from one to the other, I think that will be good enough.That was something a really wanted to do with little fuss.....any more advice on setting this up will be great or articles on it for the easy way to make this work I dont want to go into the bios every time I boot.....I will start looking see what I can find out...thanks all again. And yes I must start backing up data...cheers
 
He restores an image of the drive nightly using Ghost. You could also use Deepfreeze or similar utilities but they are pricey.
 
jonrice said:
Thanks chaps, I think 2 boot devices is the way foward for me. At least I can then stream line XP on my music drive and have all my apps running on the faster drive (once I do all the tweaks) and such.

As long as I can copy files from one to the other, I think that will be good enough.That was something a really wanted to do with little fuss.....any more advice on setting this up will be great or articles on it for the easy way to make this work I dont want to go into the bios every time I boot.....I will start looking see what I can find out...thanks all again. And yes I must start backing up data...cheers
Click to expand...

would a second tower be an option for you? it doesn't have to be anything flashy, even a shuttle may suit your needs and then you can K.V.M it to your main system then network it together as well. the second system would not have to have internet access at all !!
 
well no, one p.c is enough for me just ant got the cash, I intalled a second hard drive with XP so I have two boot devices but, (and like I said I'm a novice really) It seems to me, as some have explained that its not going to protect anything from a virus, or somthing that really wants to fuk up my system, the only good thing is I can manage my files better and stream line one OS to my needs, but hay cant have it all. I will just have to make sure I back every importent file up and use ghost......I'll keep reading up on this..

Thanks for all the replys most helpfull.
 
Creating iso files is another option to consider without the cost of buying ghosting softwares. Once you create large iso images packed with files you want to preserve you can burn those archives to disk. Then if anything become infected or a drive fails? :confused: :eek: ! you still have anything important backup on removable media. Personally data dvds is even easier for this.

The option of an external addon hard drive like a WD Work Book 500gb external that simply unplugs from the system by way of usb is a more expensive method. Those data dvds work the best here for the much lower cost! :D
 
Thats very helpfull and what I was thinking....dont wanna be lazy and ask, but I will he he...I have tryed reading up on "iso" or image file as there also known correct me if I'm wrong but I cant seem to find anything that makes sense or much sense to me. do you know of any articles around for a novice to give me a simple insight into it..?

cheers.jon
 
First when you are unsure of what a term is simply look it up in a dictionary for the full definition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image :D It can be a big help to know just what an iso image is.

There are several programs available for creating and opening iso images at this late date. Linux is one OS where iso images are the common item like downloading a live for cd distro or even the Gnome Partition Editor. One page that has a tutorial as well as download page is seen at http://www.magiciso.com/howto/howto.htm
 
another way is to hook an external toggle switch to the molex connecting power to ur 2nd hd as pc eye said to unplug it this would be easier mount the switch to ur pc, and flip it on and when want to use it, id turn of pc when turn on and off though
 
I just added a 500gb sata at the beginning of februrary and it's already got some 362gb used up already. That includes the XP Pro installation seen there. I pondered on going with an external but wanted everything readily accessible here other then burning data dvd backups. Where do you stack external drives?
 
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