I am a new user of Avast, so I hope you will have some patience with me
After an infection with a backdoor Win32 Trojan Horse, from which I was not protected by F-secure (the anti-virus provided by my Internet provider), I installed Avastā¦ and Avast found quite some rubbish on my PC!
I decided to do a full system recovery, then I ran Avast, also over my external Hard Drive and as a result some files were put into the Chest.
But it wasnāt until now that I discovered I could no longer reach the external HD. Even Avast no longer finds it!
The external HD is partitioned in F: G: H: I:
Now when I check āMy Computerā only F: is visible. But F: āis not formatted, do you want to format now?ā NO!!! This HD contains all my scanned slides, thousands of them!!! And all my backups!
This is the full content of the Chest:
A0000218.Inf in F:\System Volume Information_restore{9B2640BF-AB83-4FD2-8EDA-B0FCC526FCC8}\RP5 containing VBS:Malware-gen
A0000476.Inf in G:\System Volume Information_restore{9B2640BF-AB83-4FD2-8EDA-B0FCC526FCC8}\RP9 containing VBS:Malware-gen
A0000477.Inf in H:\System Volume Information_restore{9B2640BF-AB83-4FD2-8EDA-B0FCC526FCC8}\RP9 containing VBS:Malware-gen
AutoRun.Inf in F: containing VBS:Malware-gen
AutoRun.Inf in G: containing VBS:Malware-gen
AutoRun.Inf in H: containing VBS:Malware-gen
AutoRun.Inf in I: containing VBS:Malware-gen
cryptnet21.dll in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 containing Win32:Trojan-gen {other}
IPv6.dll in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 containing Win32:agent-ACRH[trj]
NvCpl64.dll in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 containing Win32:agent-ACRH[trj]
ReSSDT.sys in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 containing Win32:agent-ACRH[trj]
Thumbs.0nk in G: containing Win32:agent-ACRH[trj]
Thumbs.0nk in H: containing Win32:agent-ACRH[trj]
Thumbs.0nk in I: containning Win32:agent-ACRH[trj]
Uninstall.bin in C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution containing Win32:agent-ACRH[trj]
WinXP.bmp in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 containing Win32:agent-ACRH[trj]
I tried restoring the Chest files of F: G: H: and I: (not the C: ones), but they cannot be properly restored: they were restored with faults, as Avast reported. And still no access to the external HD.
Now what can I do?
Please, please, can someone help me? I feel quite desperate! ???
Thanks for your quick reply!
Yes, the partitions are still thereā¦ H: and I: were empty, but F: and G: are located, with their original name. So they must be thereā¦ I just canāt start themā¦
Easeus does not seem to have other options than to format the partitions.
I also download the Data Recovery Wizardā¦ itās searching nowā¦
Apparently the data are still on itā¦ I will have to read a lot first, before taking any action!
Unfortunately notā¦ but Easeus has reported that the two partitions with data are āunformattedā, the other, still empty, partitions are still formatted. So an other computer wouldnāt access the HD either.
Easeus Data Recovery is scanning now, but that will take several hours!
Tomorrow a friend will come with some software to recover picture files from blocked media , and put it on an other external HDā¦ With some luck I can re-format my external HD and put the pictures back on. Wish me luck!
Well, he tried PC Inspector Smart Recovery and Photo Rescue PC, but to no avail.
I was just about to find a company to recover lost data, when I found another strange thing. A 2.0 USB hub, connected to a recently installed USB 2.0 PCI card, did not work properly. The hub had a long extension USD cordā¦ and this hub with cord was connected right next to the external HD on the same PCI card. I reconnected the hub without the extenson cord and then I suddenly had access to the external HD again, probably the USB extension cord to the HUB was too long, which caused trouble with the HUB. So when I took the extension cord out, I could suddenly access the external HD! It wasnāt stabile thoughā¦ cause after restarting the HD was gone again. Next I connected the HD to a slow USB port, and everything suddenly was accessable again, and working properlyā¦
So I suppose the problem lies in the 2.0 USB cardā¦
When closing down there was a pop-up telling me there was something that H:$ secure was damaged and that I had to do a chkdsk, which I did with EASEUS.
Iām still trying out other thingsā¦ like de- and installing the drivers for the USB card. Didnāt make a difference, Iām afraid.
Thank you for listening and thinking with me!
I donāt know how long exactly the, ālong USB extension cordā was, but USB does have a few limits:
Q2: Why can't I use a cable longer than 3 or 5m?
A2: USB's electrical design doesn't allow it. When USB was designed, a decision was made to handle the propagation of electromagnetic fields on USB data lines in a way that limited the maximum length of a USB cable to something in the range of 4m. This method has a number of advantages and, since USB is intended for a desktop environment, the range limitations were deemed acceptable. If you're familiar with transmission line theory and want more detail on this topic, take a look at the USB signals section of the developers FAQ.
Of course, some USB devices may be more sensitive than others. Usually, youād want to have a USB external Hard Drive plugged directly into the computerās USB receptacle instead of a hub to make the connection faster. Leave mice and webcamās etc, connected to the hub.
Yeah, NOW I know about the maximum length of the extension cord! :-[ It was 5 m long, the only one available in the shop where I went to buy one. Plus the 1 m that was already on the hubā¦ makes it 6.
But still, the HD was not connected to the hub. In fact nothing was connected to the hub, it was there to be used incidentally.
The HD and the hub were both plugged in the PCās new 2.0 USB card (receptacle)!
I still donāt understand how the one affects the other! But Iām glad I found outā¦ And that the data are still on the HD.
Now when the HDās are getting cheaper all the time, I am planning on buying another one, transfer the data, reformat the 1st HD, and keep them both as backups.
