Master Boot Record fix

[Eric]

I wanted to install Norton GoBack onto my Windows XP Pro
system and when I put the disc in I got an error saying
that the program could not determine which hard drive was
the boot drive, this was weird because I only have one
hard drive. I contacted Symantec and they told me that I
probably have a damaged Master Boot Record for my hard
drive and suggested that I go and use Windows Recovery
Console to fix the MBR. I am hesitant to do that because
I do not know what all would happen with the fix, I have
seen warnings about it being that it could mess up with
the patitions and information on the hard drive. I have
backed up the most important things on an external hard
drive, but I am still afraid that if I go and do the
Master Boot Record fix that I will cause something to go
wrong. Do I have anything to worry about if I fix the MBR
or should I just leave well enough alone and just use
GoBack on my laptop, which installed GoBack perfectly?
Any help would be a great help.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I wanted to install Norton GoBack onto my Windows XP Pro
system and when I put the disc in I got an error saying
that the program could not determine which hard drive was
the boot drive, this was weird because I only have one
hard drive. I contacted Symantec and they told me that I
probably have a damaged Master Boot Record for my hard
drive and suggested that I go and use Windows Recovery
Console to fix the MBR. I am hesitant to do that because
I do not know what all would happen with the fix, I have
seen warnings about it being that it could mess up with
the patitions and information on the hard drive. I have
backed up the most important things on an external hard
drive, but I am still afraid that if I go and do the
Master Boot Record fix that I will cause something to go
wrong. Do I have anything to worry about if I fix the MBR
or should I just leave well enough alone and just use
GoBack on my laptop, which installed GoBack perfectly?
Any help would be a great help.

Repairing the MBR is OK in most cases, except in these:

- Your machine is infected by a virus that resides in the MBR
- Your hard disk uses a proprietary compression scheme such
as OnTrack. This is not something that comes with the disk
as you buy it; it is something you would have to load deliberately.

If it was my PC then I would fix the MBR without hesitation,
especially after taking the precaution of backing up all my
important files (including my EMail store!).