If the drive is attached to a running OS then it has some degree of vulnerability.
I would suggest you clone the drive with your base OS and drivers...
You could also create a compressed image of the OS if your base system is over 10gig...
You can physically unplug the data cable until you have a problem and want a backup or you can configure your coms to NOT autodetect and tell it you dont even have a second drive...
Just a couple of suggestions....
I personally have my base OS burned onto a DVD...
A clean fresh install takes less than 15 minutes...
I also have a linux partition that I keep an image of my base Windows OS on for safe keeping.
I also have two bootable livecd Linux OS, (Mepis as well as Knoppix)
Hope this helps...
Can i ask what program you use to burn /chost you os to dvd as this is what i would like to do the next time i reinstall winxp SP2 .
Reputation Points: 1056
Solved Threads: 792
I hate 20 Questions
Offline 12,732 posts
since Aug 2003