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External HDD with possible rootkits
I'm dealing with an external HDD that has possible rootkits or other nasty viruses on it.
I reinstalled Windows 7 on a fresh, clean, uninfected HDD and now I need to retrieve some files from the old drive (which is now the external HDD).
At this point, I have NOT yet powered it up. What precautions do I need to follow to prevent reinfection on the new drive? I know better than to copy executable files over and I would run virus scans over the files (mostly JPEG's) before transferring them. But is it possible a rootkit would deposit itself on the uninfected system just by powering up the drive?
Can/should I disable AutoRun on the external drive first?
Other things to do first?