Reassign Master Boot Record

[Guest]

This one is going to be fun to see the replies, but this is of highest
concern for me.
Norton GoBack... sucks. I had OS failure thus leading into its
reinstallation without the ability to uninstall GoBack. Therefore, the MBR on
my 250GB hard drive, nearly completely full of critical data to my student
work and my family, is rendering that hard drive's information inaccessible.
I need a method to reset the MBR, giving control back to me WITHOUT losing
but one bit of information on that drive. I was considering installing GoBack
and trying to tweak the program settings to recognize that drive as already
"GoBack Partitioned" and perhaps letting me see the drive's information
again, but I see that as risky and, therefore, will not do it without someone
who is knowledgable about this. I've emailed Symantec and they have failed to
reply so far, though I do not expect them to give me a legitimate solution.
Accepting this information as lost is not plausible to me because I know that
it is still there and I know there is a way to recover it; I just do not know
how to do so in this case.
I can pay for programs / tools to recover this drive, but not much;
therefore, I either need some way to do this for free or something that costs
less than $100.

 

[Richard Urban]

Not so tough at all. I have recovered a few systems with the same problem.

From Symantec "Knowledge Base":

To remove the changes that GoBack made to the boot record
1.. Create a Windows Startup disk under Windows 98/Me. For more
information, see the document How to create a Windows Startup disk.
2.. Copy the Gb_prog.exe file to the Windows Startup disk. If there is not
enough room to copy Gb_prog.exe to the Windows Startup disk, then copy
Gb_prog.exe to a separate floppy disk.
3.. On the affected computer, insert the Windows Startup disk and then
start the computer. The computer has finished starting when you see an A:\>
prompt and a blinking cursor.
4.. Insert the disk that has the Gb_prog.exe file.
5.. Type gb_prog.exe /r and then press Enter.
The utility will attempt to repair the Master Boot Record. This may take
several hours to complete. You may also see a progress bar twice.
This utility should not be used with an external drive connected, such as
a USB drive. If the utility is run with an external USB device, it may take
several days to complete.
If the problem continues, repeat the steps using the gb_prog.exe /u
command.

This process does not entirely remove the Norton GoBack program. Use the
Add/Remove Programs utility in the Windows Control Panel to remove the rest
of the Norton GoBack program.

If the issue continues, the MBR on your computer may be protected. If this
is the case, you will need to contact your computer manufacturer for
assistance in recovering your computer.

I have also successfully used a Windows 98se setup floppy and the command
"fdisk /mbr", which will repair the master boot record and remove references
to GoBack.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

this isn't exactly my issue, Richard
Norton GoBack is no longer installed... Windows was reinstalled... wiped out
and reinstalled.
Therefore, there is no more GoBack on the system.
And a 98/ME Startup disc? This is XP... I don't have 98 or ME...
and copy the Gb_prog.exe program to the disc? From where?

 

[Allen L.]

In

this isn't exactly my issue, Richard
Norton GoBack is no longer installed... Windows was reinstalled...
wiped out and reinstalled.
Therefore, there is no more GoBack on the system.
And a 98/ME Startup disc? This is XP... I don't have 98 or ME...
and copy the Gb_prog.exe program to the disc? From where?

Either use the WinXP disk and boot to repair, and use "fixmbr" or/and
"fixboot", or use the suggestion offered to use a Windows 98se setup floppy
to boot with and the command "fdisk /mbr".

....Allen

 

[Grim Reaper]

Get a spare/new hard drive, replace the one in your system with it.
Install XP onto it.
Power down and connect the old drive in as a slave.
Power up and you should be able to copy everything you need off the old
drive.

In future, I recommend at least 3 partitions on a drive - XP on C, all your
data on D and backups on E.

HTH
______________________________________________________
The Grim Reaper

 

[Guest]

okay, this drive is simply a slave drive not setup for booting. this
procedure should still work without hurting or even touching my nonMBR data,
correct?

 

[Guest]

that's the setup I had... I had 3 partitions: 2 utilizing an OS each and 1 on
that other drive that somehow got caught up in GoBack

 

[Grim Reaper]

So you have 2 drives... the first with 2 partitions and the second with 1
partition?
If that's right, you have a problem with the MBR on the second (non-booting)
drive?!?
MBR or no MBR... you should still be able to read the data off a slave
drive.

(It's been a while since my hardware failed (touch wood!) - I might be a
rusty on the subject...)
_______________________________________
The Grim Reaper

 

[Guest]

It seems GoBack tains the master record in such a way that it will not allow
viewing anything without its stupid utility. It's extremely frustrating, as
well as confusing and annoying... I will never use GoBack ever again because
of this.

 

[Richard Urban]

To do any of the repairs I stated, the drive will have to be connected as a
primary master. It is best to not have any other drives connected when you
do this

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Allen L.]

In

It seems GoBack tains the master record in such a way that it will
not allow viewing anything without its stupid utility. It's extremely
frustrating, as well as confusing and annoying... I will never use
GoBack ever again because of this.

I am totally confused...if you have two active hard drives, then you must
have a boot manager or don't you? When you boot, don't you have a choice of
which operating system to boot into? If so, you probably have corrupted the
MBR which will contain actually two booting pointing options to each
different systems. Does the above apply in your case?

....Allen

 

[Richard Urban]

There are "definite" steps you must take when you are dual booting while
using GoBack. These are documented in various places. I suspect you did not
read the help section, the readme files or the on-line knowledgebase before
you set up your computer. Now you are stuck and have to do a lot of work to
recover what you had.

If I had the drive in question in my possession I would have no problem with
it, using what I first posted.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Richard Urban]

Again, if you would just READ!

From the Symantec web site:

To force GoBack to be removed from the master boot record
1.. Turn off the computer.
2.. Start the computer, and then immediately press and hold down the
Ctrl+Alt+G keys.
A message will appear that gives you the option to force the removal of
GoBack from the master boot record. Note that some computers require that
you hold down the Ctrl+Alt keys while rapidly tapping the G key.
3.. Press F to force the removal of GoBack from the master boot record.
4.. Restart the computer.

Now, it is up to YOU to make sure that the drive is connected as the primary
MASTER before you try this.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Plato]

I have also successfully used a Windows 98se setup floppy and the command
"fdisk /mbr", which will repair the master boot record and remove references
to GoBack.

Jeeze I never had the nads to try fdisk /mbr on an xp pc.

 

[Allen L.]

In

Jeeze I never had the nads to try fdisk /mbr on an xp pc.

Guess you would, Plato, if the WinXP boot disk fixmbr & fixboot commands
didn't work and you have no other options!

 

[Richard Urban]

All the MBR does is load primary code and then hand off the boot to the
operating system, whatever it may be. In the past I have used fdisk /mbr
successfully with OS/2, to rid the system of the OS/2 boot loader also. I
had my own boot loader I wanted to use.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

now... how am I supposed to do this to a volume that refuses to be assigned a
drive letter? if I make that the primary master with nothing else connected,
with BIOS default it as C: even though in its state now, windows disk
management refuses to assign?