Good summary found on webtopia:
MBR:
Short for Master Boot Record, a small program that is executed when a computer boots up. Typically, the MBR resides on the first sector of the hard disk. The program begins the boot process by looking up the partition table to determine which partition to use for booting. It then transfers program control to the boot sector of that partition, which continues the boot process. In DOS and Windows systems, you can create the MBR with the FDISK /MBR command.
This is also a good to have util:
Can save the MBR to a file , and restore it .
Options:
MBRWiz - Version 1.52 for Windows XP/2K/PE November 13, 2003
Copyright (c) 2002-2003 Roger Layton
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Usage: MBRWiz [/option]
/List List MBR Entries
/Disk=# Selects the disk to use. 0 is used if not specified
/Hide=# Hides the Partition number specified by #, or * for all
/Unhide=# Unhides the Partition number specified by #, or * for all
/Active=# Activates the Partition specified by #
/Inactive=# De-activates the Partition number specified by #, or * for all
/Del=# Deletes the partition specified by #
/Wipe=# 1=Wipes the MBR, 2-Wipes the first 63 sectors of disk
/Save=x Saves the MBR to filename 'x'
/Restore=x Reads and restores the Disk MBR from filename 'x'
/ShowFile=x Shows contents of an existing MBR backup file named 'x'
/BootMenu Allows user to select an active partition from a menu
/Sort Sort MBR Entries by disk location
/IsSorted Returns 0 if MBR partitions are already sorted
/Shutdown=# 1-Forces OS shutdown, 2-Forces OS Reboot
/Result Shows Errorlevel code
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syar