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NQR - About those computer viruses . . . Do you know about mirror drives?


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I think some may be blaming Webshots prematurely. About the same time you all were writing about webshots, I got a real life computer-destroying virus while I was downloading an applique pattern of a cardinal! These vile people who create viruses design them so that reproduce themselves a million fold in ten seconds, and so that they will go all over the internet.

I would have lost everything but didn't because I had a mirror drive. Ask your computer guy about it.

A backup drive only has whatever you saved the last time you saved to it, and these will most likely be only what you have in "My Documents." A mirror drive, on the other hand, has exactly everything on your computer. That means every application, every setting, etc., etc., that is on your working hard drive is also on the mirror drive. When you get a virus, it's only a minor inconvenience, not a major catastrophe.

The mirror drive gets hooked up to be the new working C:\\ drive, the polluted main drive with the virus gets completely erased, and is then set up to be the mirror drive. Then the stuff from the newly installed C:\\ drive is copied onto the mirror drive, and you're all set, as if nothing ever happened. Not a thing is lost. Nothing has to be reloaded, you haven't lost all your automatic password settings, etc., etc.

It's like magic.

It was never explained to me when I got my computer (which I had made at PC Club, which is no longer in existence, sob) but they talked me buying it, and I'm thrilled I did even though I didn't understand it at the time.

I'm not sure that I have explained it 100% correctly, but I'm close . . .

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Having a mirror drive means you have an extra hard drive that is identical to the drive your computer runs off. Everything that your computer needs to run on, and everything you save/every time you save, is stored on both drives. But only one is the working drive, the C:\\ drive, and because it is the working drive, it's the one that gets the virus. The mirror drive just sits in the background keeping a copy of everything but not affected by the virus because it's not the one working the computer.

Hope I made that clear. That's the way I understand it. I welcome clarification (and correction if necessary) from those who know more about it. I just finally understand it and was so excited to share my knowledge -- at least what I understand of it. Having a mirror drive is so much better than just having a "backup" drive.

I had my computer built with it, so I don't know if you can have one attached later, or how that part works.

Not even all computer guys know about it. The guy I regularly take my computer to doesn't know about it and wasn't interested in learning about it. He was able to save everything when I got my virus because I had the mirror drive, but he didn't know how to set it up again as a mirror drive, and has it hooked up as only a backup drive. So I had to call three places before I found some place (Best Buy) that even knows how to do it . . . so I have to take it there to get it working again as a mirror instead of a backup.

he repaired my virus (because I had the mirror drive, I didn't lose anything

You ladies married to computer guys, please make any necessary corrections. . . .

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