How is the Windows NT signature/DiskID field of the MBR calculated?

[Rumi]

This may seem like a spurious question.

1.Is it dependent on some hard-ware specific signature stored on the
controller unit of the hard drive?

2.When and how often is it written into the MBR?..is it written only
once when the hard drive is physically installed or is it dynamically
re-written each time Windows XP boots up?

3.Do cloning utilities do a bit by bit copy of the MBR or not?

Thank in advance

Rumi

 

[Peter Hutchison]

This may seem like a spurious question.

1.Is it dependent on some hard-ware specific signature stored on the
controller unit of the hard drive?

Its probably OS specific.

2.When and how often is it written into the MBR?..is it written only
once when the hard drive is physically installed or is it dynamically
re-written each time Windows XP boots up?

Usually once when adding a new hard disk or partition to your system.

3.Do cloning utilities do a bit by bit copy of the MBR or not?

They should or else when restoring a Disk image, it will not be able
to boot or see other partitions restored.

Peter Hutchison
Windows FAQ
http://www.pcguru.plus.com/