Is It Safe to Backup Data (Images, Documents, Videos, etc.) from A Possibly Infected Computer?

Best Answered by

Larissa· Answered on Feb 22, 2023

It is safe to back up data like images, videos, and documents (from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) from a possibly infected computer. 

A computer virus can cause damage to your data only when it is executed and it has changed the boot sequence and disabled your antivirus software. Computer virus infection is different from biological infection, which can spread through air or contact. So, if your images, videos, and documents aren't infected or executed by the virus, you can back them up safely from the computer. 

Be cautious that you can't directly connect the backup storage hard drive to the infected computer because the virus will try to infect the device too. You can try the following two ways to back up these images and videos. 

Connect the infected computer to a network and share its data, then you can back up the shared data. But using this way also has the risk of being infected. 

There is another solution:

• Shut down the infected computer and take the hard drive out.
• Connect the hard drive to a safe computer as an external drive, and then use antivirus software to scan the hard drive thoroughly.
• Make sure there is no virus executed on them. You can perform the backup process now.

EaseUS Todo Backup is an excellent free backup and restore program that supports backing up files, including videos, photos, etc. You use it without worrying about data loss. 

To ensure the safety of the videos, photos, and documents, you'd better perform an antivirus scan on the backup file after the backup is complete.