Hello Computer Lady,
I am using an external hard drive and a backup program to save multiple sets of backed up files. I am saving a total of 5 duplicate sets of backed up files, scheduled to backup once per day. My question is if a virus invades one of the newer backup sets, can the virus spread to the rest of the sets on the hard disk? If this is so, is there a way to backup files and save them so that clean versions can be reloaded in case of a virus?
Thank you in advance.
Air Force Bob
[ad#ad-3]
Dear Bob,
I am always glad to see people are backing up their files! Too often, people will bring me a computer after the hard drive has failed and it is too late to retrieve their files.
A virus probably won’t be able to infect your backup files, especially if the files were zipped (compressed) during the backup. However, I can’t guarantee that a virus can’t infect the backups.
The best way to guarantee that they won’t be infected, is to occasionally burn one of the backup folders to a CD-R or DVD R disk. Once on a CD or DVD, the files can’t be changed by a virus.
Elizabeth
[ad]