[Gill]

Thanks for the info mate, I am planning to buy an external HDD for laptop, my first query is, Is there any limit to which a laptop can support external HDD,I have Thinkpad T43 and planning to buy 1TB.
Suggest a good External HDD with good speed and do mention the price and from where to buy.

Thanks

[Gill]

My system doesn't supports eSATA and FIRE Wire connectivity.
Plz recommend me a USB based HDD with good speed.

[SirAlec]

Buy WD passport. they are available in 160, 250, 320 and 500Gb.

In chandigarh you can call 9316222133, Champion. Tell them you got the number from a friend (kenden @ cyberdyne systems) of Sanjay Wadhwa, owner of champion, new delhi. They are the direct importer of Western Digital.

[abhibh]

Just bought an External 160 GB WD last month for Rs. 2750. Works like charm. Since then its hooked with Home PC which is running almost non-stop for a month and Windows is loaded in external drive. Doesn't even get hot.

[Gill]

Thanks SirAlec!
@Abhibh, from where you got it and idea about 500gb price?

[HappyWheels]

Got myself a 1TB WD external hard disk with firewire for S$ 200.

It came with a both sided 6pin firewire cable, so another S$ 10 for the 6pin-4pin firewire cable.

Connect to laptop and expected super-fast 400MBps speed and got.... 12MBps!!!

Max speed I got was 35MBps yesterday, but average is always 10~.

Is this right or am I missing something.

And yes, the one strange thing I noticed was that the disk was formatted in FAT file structure!!! After almost 40 minutes of copying and the first 4GB+ files and the transfer stopped!!! Man, 1TB in FAT, do not know what those guys were smoking.

[gendarmee]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

Gendarmee, I hope you realize what you've said here is well nigh impossible!
Once you've formatted the drive and reinstalled Windows, it HAS to be fine, unless you are using an infected set of setup files from a read/write medium.
Please use CDs that are genuine and keep your machine disconnected from a LAN or network while doing the install.

Well, I did use an XP sp2 pro 2002 cd. Its an original one.
I did not format all the partitions, but just the C drive.
Some web sites say that that this particular virus, sality.aa, amalgamates itself with all .exe files. All my installed programs are on the D drive. Didnt format the all drives as i have 70 gigs of critical data. need to back that up first.
As soon as i re-installed windows, i installed network driver and CD/Led Kaspersky. However, Kaspersky warns me of a key logger which is active and suggests a probable file in the windows folder. and as
Still have the virus on the laptop, im trying to figure out which process to end from task manager to able to delete the inf file from the memory card. I've tried all combo's but i guess that the virus process is listed as a critical system process.

I created a bartPE iso half an hour back with the windows disc(as you suggested before). will delete the virus from the memory card(s) through that, then take a back up of the data on DVDs and probably format the whole HDD.

The lap top had 64 bit XP not all Anti-Virus s/w work with that.
I got the virus when a chap borrowed the comp, for a using at a university presentation. And that wasn't the end of it. I needed to transfer pics to the desktop real urgently, so used the comp mean to transfer pics from the cam's mem card to the phone, then from the phone to the desktop. As the desktop's memory card reader had to conk off just about now

OT-Is it possible to boot with an ubuntu disc and still have access too the fat/ntfs drives?

One more question, Can some one confirme whether the is an .exe file in the root folder of the E71's memory card. I never made notice of the files on the root folder earlier.

[gendarmee]

forgot to mention.
A month ago i got this virus which slowed file transfer from/to memory card, called cute photo.exe(isys32.exe).
Kaspersky didn't detect it nor did spyware doctor.
A couple days later i hooked up the card with the write protect lock on and saw a msg flash that isys32.exe cannot access the memory card. Hence it was easy to remove that one.
Tried that methord with this virus but only an alpha numeric error code is flashed, not the process name.

[gendarmee]

With the BartPE Disc.

Could sucessfully deleted the virus .exe and .inf files from the phone.
Ran a search for sality using the A43 file management utility on drives, and each and every folder on the drive shows up on the result(including audio, excel and word file folders) But cannot see any suspicious file.
While a search for the same in a folder with no sub folders returns no results.

Does this mean burning myself a back up for the data from the drives is going to get me back to square one of i try to copy the data files to the HDD after formatting the complete drive?

[sammyboy]

Just ordered a 1Tb Maxtor external HD from ebay for 4990. Waiting for it to reach.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by gendarmee

Does this mean burning myself a back up for the data from the drives is going to get me back to square one of i try to copy the data files to the HDD after formatting the complete drive?

This sounds like a vicious virus!
Is there no file cleaning tool available? Does the removal tool delete the files?

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by sammyboy

Just ordered a 1Tb Maxtor external HD from ebay for 4990. Waiting for it to reach.

Is this firewire connectivity or not?

[aburagohain]

Please have a look at Remove Sality, removal instructions

Also, you might try booting your machine through a Live CD of Linux, Ubuntu/Mandriva/OpenSuse whichever you prefer or is available. This let's you run the linux os from your CD itself without installing and perform normal operation although in a slower manner.

Take the necessary data backup to an external drive or DVD, looks like this particular virus/trojan affects executables only, so your data files should not be a problem. Then the best riddance would be to format the entire HDD and reinstall Windows, create a restore point and then try to carefully import your data back. In case of a problem, you can go back to the restore point and start fresh.

[gendarmee]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

This sounds like a vicious virus!
Is there no file cleaning tool available? Does the removal tool delete the files?

Yes, AVG has a specific tool for the job. But there is a problem with using it. 1) Sality ends the process on the CPU as soon as it starts.
2) The lappie is Xp 64 bit, thus AVG's tool is incompatible with it.
Some people have reported that McAfee removes the virus but renders the files unusable. Didnt specify which files it renders unusable so i left that option for WCS.
However, after having given up on trying to manually figure out the virus process on the lappie, I installed Kaspersky. It installed, guess AVG did the job of keep restricting the virus to a little extent. Kaspersky wouldn't update the data base after installation though, But good that they have those Zip update files. After the manual update, and disabling system restore, kaspersky detected and cleaned Sality.aa, some 1600 infected files all .exe, set ups & system restore. Albeit, half of the intalled progams dont work anymore and neither can they be uninstalled the data files seem to to be fine.The Short cuts of those the affect programs have been routed too system restore. System restore files had the chunk of the virus files.
Kaspersky wont work on the CPU, i'd already used it for the one month of free usage. And after Re-loading windows the virus had infected the exe files on all drives.
Thanks for suggesting BartPE, i didnt know about it. I used that to erase all .exe and system files from the CPU. Will backup data and install windows again on sunday. This event has set me back by a week. There was a time when i used to install windows every 4-6 months but hadn't done that for the last 3 1/2 years. Never needed too, that was until i was brave enough to run the CPU w/o an anti virus or anti-spyware.
Attaching 3 pics, one is of the AV, one of the re-routed shortcut of infected files and the thrid of the program un-installation issues.

Originally Posted by aburagohain

Please have a look at Remove Sality, removal instructions
Also, you might try booting your machine through a Live CD of Linux, Ubuntu
Take the necessary data backup to an external drive or DVD

I'll have to do exactly that., as in, back up all data and format the whole hard drive.
I have Ubuntu discs at hand, but i'm not aware the commands to mount the drives..BartPE did a great job with that. Tried the manual removal options from different websites too, couldnt find the 3 dll files in the windows folder plus the virus re-appeared after formatting of the C drive..

And as i finished typing this, there is a notification from Kasprsky,"intrusion:win.mssql.worm.helkern-attack detected duration-1:40:50 UDP-1434"
Cant format this computer dont have a Windows 64 disc. May be I'll download one.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by gendarmee

Never needed too, that was until i was brave enough to run the CPU w/o an anti virus or anti-spyware.

LOL, gendarmee, I STILL do not install any AV on my system. I use ONLY MS Windows Defender and ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall without AV and AS!
But then I make regular image files of my C drive through Acronis. I always disable Windows System Restore feature.
My ProgFiles are always in D drive as also the My Docs folder.

Amazing thing is that I have had MINIMAL problems in 8 years since I became an active user, as compared to a lot of my friends who get hit with every major release of a new virus!
The KEY is that I NEVER use Outlook or Outlook Express! That's where ALL the problems come from!
To each his own!