IO Data worries me. Earlier this week, they announced that their HDP-U series of portable shock-resistant hard drive were shipped preloaded with a … *gasp* … virus! The Trojan-style virus, named WORM_TOMPAI.A or W32/Tompai-A, supposedly infected hard drives with the following serial numbers:

• HDP-U40: YBS0000001xx~YBS0005520xx
• HDP-U60: YBT0000001xx~YBT000100xx
• HDP-U80: YBV0000001xx~YBV0002480xx

So what do you do if you bought an infected unit? IO Data tells you to go remove it using your own anti-virus software, or download a 30-days trial version of Virus Buster 2006 Internet Security.

Wow, sounds fun.

And if you so desire, you may exchange your unit for a new one, after the virus has been removed. But please do so within 30-days. Who knows, the new unit may very well come with a different virus!

This is even more worrying. An IO Data Hello Kitty USB Flash Drive. It’s not like IO Data specializes in cutesy gadgets. They must be resorting to the philosophy of “slap Hello Kitty on anything and it sells”.

It comes with 512MB of storage and stuffed inside a sweet gift box. So I guess this makes a good Christmas gift for the geeky girls.

[via Ubergizmo, Engadget]