Slave Drive Security

[Steephers]

Hi, I'm new, & busy.  May take time for formalities later.

My PC's original hard drive crashed & I didn't have a recent backup (I know, shame on me    ). It wouldn't boot in regular or safe modes (not sure about DOS mode). My husband replaced the hard drive, but I still desperately need the files from the old hard drive. I'm considering setting the old hard drive up as a slave drive to access the files on it, but I'm wondering if this is even possible since it's damaged.

Also, we're concerned that there may be a virus or spyware on the old hard drive (even though we have Norton & have tried to keep it up to date). If there are security issues with the old hard drive, can they transfer to the new hard drive if we set it up as a slave?

[patio]

Setting it up as a slave is probably your best bet for 2 reasons :
1) you can run chkdsk /r on it which may help you salvage your data
2) You can also run all your protection application scans on it prior to moving/copying any data...

As long as you do not run any executables on that drive i.e. programs etc. the risk of infection to your main drive is very low.

Follow the steps above and let us know.

P.S. You may want to list your protection apps here first in case our security guru's may have additional suggestions before you copy any data...