Thread: Formatting HD Skipping Master Boot Record.?

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    Registered User jawwadalam's Avatar
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    Formatting HD Skipping Master Boot Record.?

    I wanted to format a HD skipping the MBR... Which Command I Can use for the purpose... >?
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    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    u can't format and skip the mbr.

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    Why would you want to skip the MBR? Are you dual booting or something? Format doesn't mess with the MBR. Fdisk does. So do some muliboot utils, ie lilo and grub. Sys.com might, I don't recall off hand.

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    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    I think he means he wants to wipe out the hard drive except for the mbr, which is impossible.

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    As well as being pointless, unless you are trying to preserve an alternate boot setup. Conceptually, the mbr is basically a pointer to the boot program.
    It's more common to rewrite an MBR using the dos command FDISK /MBR to return the mbr to standard format after removing a linux install.
    That's what I mean. I think we need a better idea of what jawwadalam has in mind before giving a simple yes or no.

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    Registered User jawwadalam's Avatar
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    That Was the Command..I heared somewhere...!

    Originally posted by kevinalm
    As well as being pointless, unless you are trying to preserve an alternate boot setup. Conceptually, the mbr is basically a pointer to the boot program.
    It's more common to rewrite an MBR using the dos command FDISK /MBR to return the mbr to standard format after removing a linux install.
    That's what I mean. I think we need a better idea of what jawwadalam has in mind before giving a simple yes or no.
    I Think That I could not Post My Question Clearly.. But..Answer..by
    kevinalm for which I was .. Looking. Some One told me that he use a command for formatting by skipping the mbr to set the hd ... because.. mbr had some problem... ! So.. I wanted to know is there any command which skips the mbr.. and for what .. Basically the Advantages.. because The Person who Told me.. save the hd data.. too...??????????? I could't get it..Also.. How is it Possible..?
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    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    I wanted to know is there any command which skips the mbr.. and for what .. Basically the Advantages.. because The Person who Told me.. save the hd data.. too...??????????? I could't get it..Also.. How is it Possible..?
    I will say this once cause i can see hwo this topic could test my patience very easily.

    If you skip the MBR, which is impossible, the hard drive would fail and you would need to set the mbr. You cannot change the drive without also matching the mbr.

    What i think is that you think you can format your hard drive and not lose the info on it by skipping the mbr, and you CAN'T. If you fdisk, format, anything you do is going to cause you to have to also do the mbr.

    Period.

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    Formatting a hard disk has nothing to do with the Master Boot Record. You can format a partition and not fudge the MBR up.

    FDISK creates the MBR which holds the master partition table. The MBR keeps record of the 'bootable' partition of your hard drive so your computer can boot.
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    Ok, I think see the problem. He has a problem with the mbr and wants a way to restore it as simply as possible. The way to do this is the dos command: fdisk /mbr . This will rewrite a standard mbr to the hd without touching the partitioning or format of the drive. It is supposed to leave your data alone, in my experience it does. It was designed originally to kill boot viruses safely.

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    Ride-or-Die>>> All posts you have done on this subject is flat out wrong. You don't know what your talking about.

    jawwadalam>> Follow kevinalms advice. I have done it that way many times,works great

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    Ride-or-Die>>> All posts you have done on this subject is flat out wrong. You don't know what your talking about.
    Going backwards and restoring the mbr without formatting, that you can do. Partions without altering, you can do. I said you cannot format a hard drive entirely and be able to skip the mbr. And in that i am correct.

    Not all the posts i have done are flat out wrong, and as far as not knowing what i am talking about, i probably have more certifications in technical areas then ever will in your life time.

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    Formatting has nothing to do with the MBR, period. FDISK is what alters the partition table and when you re-partition your disk it alters the MBR to show this.

    Certifications don't mean diddly squat. I've met people who were extremely certified but didn't know their rear from a hole in the ground. I've got a couple of certs a BS degree and working on a Masters but that doesn't mean I know squat about computers or what I'm talking about. Certs are just a piece of papaer that says you passed a test and you can cheat on those tests very easily these days.
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    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    Well i'd love to argue it out all day long but that would be spam : )

    Fell more then free to pm tho.

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    Try this. Install Linux. -> format with a floppy. -> reboot, LILO stil try to boot. Conclusion..MBR wasn't formated
    Last edited by Barjor; 10-09-2002 at 01:30 PM.

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    Why it happens-- Installing lilo alters the mbr, redirecting the boot process to the lilo boot loader program. The dos command fdisk /mbr restores the mbr to the original state. The mbr is basicaly a stub loader and a pointer, although I don't know the specifics of how it works.

    A little side note. Be careful about using drive copy utils to transfer to a new hd when you upgrade. Some of them do weird things to the mbr. Not a problem unless you want to dual boot. I used Maxblast once and wound up LLFing the drive to straighten the mess out so I could dual boot win95/linux.

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