Format and MBR 1

[willdwilly]

Could any one tell me ,if when you format a HD does it remove the MBR , and if not how do you wipe out the MBR ? Kelly

 

[zorko]

Sorry that was meant to say "They wont lose much data as they only have the OS on there".
Also does this work on the D:> drive too? as in disk 1, just incase the MBR of that is infected?

Chris

 

[zorko]

Can you confirm this can be done without losing the data?
It does not work when logged on XP, so I presume you need to load Recovery Console to do this?

Chris

 

[Marcs41]

Yes.
And no-one can garantee no data loss, that is why they invented backups ;-)

Marc
_{If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC!}

 

[gazstone]

As a last resort you may consider zero filling your whole drive. You should be able to download a utility from your manufacturers website. This should clear any problems although you will have comlete data loss with this method.

 

[zorko]

Alas Diskpart does not work the same way under Recovery Console, and only gives me the option to delete and create new partitions, not alas what I want to do. :-(

Trying the commands under windows using the Run command, will work up until the clean command, but clean tells you it wont allow you to run this on a main boot drive or part of the system that is neccessary to boot (note the spelling of necessary here, its their spelling not mine)

Is there any way around that, I think Clean would work using the Run->cmd syntax, if I could get the clean to work on the boot drive.

Chris

 

[MOMMATECH]

I need to know how to format my hard drive with out using the resore disk that came with my computer can anyone help me

 

[Marcs41]

Mommatech, please start your own thread, this is off-topic and thus confusing

Marc
_{If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
Free Tip: The F1 Key does NOT destroy your PC!}

 

[flyingwolf23]

she did and called it "Help" real descriptive huh

Semper Fi

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My new Baby BOY!!

 

[Marcs41]

oh ..right

 

[Universalis]

Hello everyone,

Is it possible to reformat a hard drive in FAT 32, that was formatted in NTFS under XP Pro, with a Win 98 Boot disk to re-install Win Me?

If so, how?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[wolluf]

Universalis - you really should start your own thread.

But - the answer is yes. Just run fdisk (large disk support enabled) after booting from 98 boot floppy (why not an ME one?) - use its delete partitions feature to remove the ntfs one (should appear as non-dos). You can then create new fat32 partition for your ME.

PS. If your partition is > 64GB, you may need this

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263044&Product=w98

if using 98's fdisk.

 

[zorko]

Meanwhile back on the original topic..
Is there any work around to re-writing/cleaning the MBR without trashing the whole C drive?
It wont allow me to do this when XP is running, as it only allows non boot drives to be cleaned at MBR level, and under Console mode, its not allowing it at all as its not a valid command.

 

[wolluf]

zorko - the recovery console command is fixmbr.
Or you can boot from a 98 boot floppy and run fdisk /mbr.

Neither trash C: or any other drive/partition (they don't update the partition table part of the mbr)

 

[zorko]

The problem is the MBR needs "clean" to be run as norton antivirus is still picking up the virus sig on the MBR, I have already done what you suggested, but NAV is still picking it up. I have used a W98 boot disk (or windows ME) boot disk and done FDISK /MBR, but when running the virus software its still picking up the virus sig.

However when trying to use Clean to clean the MBR and then fixmbr to rewrite a new one, it wont let me do this when under XP O/S since the main drive is in use, and if I try and reboot with recovery console, it wont let me clean the mbr as the command is not valid / wont work in recovery console.

 

[YouWelcome]

Boot off a windows 98 Boot disk and run debug.exe that will clean up the drive completely.

 

[ocean14]

If you run Fdisk|Partition info will normally show the MBR as a seperate tiny partition. If so, delete the partition and any otherers you may have. You can then reformat the entire disk. When you reinstall the opertaing system, Windows will automatically create a new MBR

 

[zorko]

Problem is I dont want to clear the drive completely, just clean the MBR and then rewrite it leaving the data intact.

 

[rdhoff]

Foolishly followed the advise of support person from a disk imaging software vendor. Said their software would work just fine with a Raid 0 Array. Now I have a corrupted MBR which is only a nuisance when rebooting system - I get a message that a particular program can't be found, press any key to bypass - everything works fine thereafter. Have looked at repairing the MBR (have the Raid Drivers on a floppy) but am scared off by MS warnings regarding potential problems. Any experienced advise ? (Don't ask why I'd be foolish enough to run Raid 0).