Will restore MBR damage partition?

[Rock]

Hi,

I have XP and in Explore all info has dissappeared from the first
partiotion of a drive and it asks to format it.

In Computer Mgmt is says it is healthy but lists no FAT or NTFS.

It has been suggested I put ther MBR back on but before i do I don't
want to damage any of the files that may be there still.

I have Partition Magic but not sure what the figures mean.

Any help?

Thanks

John

 

[Galen]

In Rock <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Hi,

I have XP and in Explore all info has dissappeared from the first
partiotion of a drive and it asks to format it.

In Computer Mgmt is says it is healthy but lists no FAT or NTFS.

It has been suggested I put ther MBR back on but before i do I don't
want to damage any of the files that may be there still.

I have Partition Magic but not sure what the figures mean.

Any help?

Thanks

John

Nope, it shouldn't format the drive at all:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/.../home/using/productdoc/en/bootcons_fixmbr.asp

In all cases you should back-up the original data just to make sure though.
Pay special attention to this warning, "Writing a new master boot record to
your system partition could damage your partition tables and cause your
partitions to become inaccessible."

Galen

 

[Bob Harris]

Use the XP recovery console, not Partition Magic, to fix the MBR. Here are some links about the recovery console:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_rec.htm



http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm



http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy33.htm


Do not format, or only as a last resort, since that will destroy all data on the partition.

Ask WHY the MBR is no longer readable? Virus? Sign of hard drive failing, etc? Error when using a hex editor on the disk? If you suspect a possible virus, be prepared to run a vrus scanner from CD (e.g., Norton) or as a self-contained non-installing executable (e.g., McAfee Stinger), after you fix the MBR and see the partition.

Of course, after the partition is readable, be sure to run CHKDSK on it (with the /F option).

 

[Pavel]

Before you go and do anything to the MBR, using the Partition Magic, use the
UNDELETE function just to see if you can get the lost partition back. If the
partition you are missing did not have any important data then the next
step, providing the UNDELETE did not work, would be to create a new
partition . And again this would only work if the area is empty.
Since you have Partition Magic then if this partition area is not empty and
you can not create new partition because of this, you may want to examine
this drive with PM to see if there is in fact a partition but this partition
is not recognized by Windows own Mgmt. If this is the case, use the PM to
delete it and create new one.

The reason I suggested that you not touch MBR is because you seem to be able
to boot to your windows and that requires MBR.