Question

Copy MBR From old drive to new

Asked by: hqrom

ok the case is this :
don't ask me how but what i have is this:
HDD IDE 0:0 is boot (holding the mbr & active partition) [nsldr, boot.ini, ntdetect.com]
HDD IDE 0:1 is system (holding the windows & co folder)

now what i want to do is copy just the mbr from IDE 0:0 to IDE 0:1 without the partition table or file structure
i looked at http://www.partition-recovery.com/quest4.htm but that restores the Master Boot Record, Partition Table and Boot Sectors, and if i'll do that i'll destroy the existing file table (and my win dir) on IDE 0:1

to make it clear : now i have 2 HDD's in my system i need to leave just one > what im doing is copying the mbr from HD1 to HD2 then setting HD2 as master (ie making it HD1 again) the question is how to transfer "elegantly" the mbr ??? (techical details would be welcome)

tnx, max.

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Asked On
2004-05-07 at 13:24:26ID20982001
Tags

mbr

,

copy

Topic

Operating Systems Miscellaneous

Participating Experts
4
Points
170
Comments
9

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Answers

 

by: mattisflonesPosted on 2004-05-07 at 13:28:35ID: 11018207

Why???
Just switch the disks and do a repair install on the old 0:1...

 

by: hqromPosted on 2004-05-07 at 13:40:00ID: 11018311

because i have bad feeling about it.

plus lets suppose i had do'nna linux & win installed on the same drive i couldn't just use ms fixboot & fixmbr on them !

and last to know how this can be done !

 

by: mattisflonesPosted on 2004-05-07 at 14:10:47ID: 11018527

Well, i think youre heading for something impossible... I wouldnt do anything like this, so ill withdraw from this thread and let someone else give it a shot..

 

by: beaker67Posted on 2004-05-07 at 16:22:46ID: 11019203

You could just use a program like debug to directly view/edit the mbr. I don't know all the technical details, but I believe the mbr is the first 500 or so bytes on the drive - just view the mbr, then save the data as a file. Copy the file to the 2nd drive, then run debug again, open the file, and write the data to the mbr.

 

by: beaker67Posted on 2004-05-07 at 16:48:40ID: 11019297

OK, there's a better solution...

Go here - http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/recommended/ntkit/default.asp - and download the Resource Kit Support Tools. Install the software, then copy disksave.exe (whenever the program installed itself) onto a DOS boot floppy. Disksave is a program that lets you backup and restore a disk's mbr.

 

by: manish_regmiPosted on 2004-05-08 at 02:12:20ID: 11020939

Why  Dont want to use fdisk /mbr or fixmbr.
If you have linux and windows. The linux loader or grub will lost and you will have ntloader.
Now you can use loadlin to boot to linux and reload the lilo or grub.
lilo
grub-install /dev/hdx,

If you dont want to do this also, write a program to to coby a mbr(just mbr code) to another disk.
Are you a programmer.

regards manish

 

by: dungsusuPosted on 2004-05-08 at 02:16:35ID: 11020945

To move MBR "elegantly" from HDD 0:0 to HDD 0:1, well, it's possible with a solution not smooth straight copy. Give me more information about your HDDs (capacity,brandname etc) then I may help you

dungsusu

 

by: dungsusuPosted on 2004-05-08 at 03:25:25ID: 11021066

hqrom,
You can try MBRtool, a good app for your case:

What they said:

MBRtool is a DOS program designed to back up, restore, and manipulate just about anything in the hard disk MBR and track0. You can edit partition tables and change attributes for partitions. You can also re-create a MBR from scratch. All actions can also be performed on MBR backups, making this tool useful for recovery purposes. Features include:
  ¤ Backup, verify and restore the MBR
  ¤ Backup, restore, wipe and clean track 0
  ¤ Edit or blank the MBR partition table
  ¤ Refresh, remove MBR boot code
  ¤ Write MBR signature bytes
  ¤ Display MBR to screen or dump to file
  ¤ Do all this for either the original MBR or backups
  ¤ Create 'blank' backup files
  ¤ Change partition attributes (active, hidden)
  ¤ Manipulate NT/2000/XP disk admin signature
 "For Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP."
 Version 2.2.100

Hope this helps
dungsusu

 

by: hqromPosted on 2004-05-08 at 07:35:10ID: 11021951

would be nice to have a link too (-;
MBRtool: http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/~tkuurstra/mbrtool.htm

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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