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Recovery of MBR

On condition that there is no problem with hardware, the first step is MBR recovery. MBR recovery is simple because it is system data. Though it may be created by different software and the code might be different, the method is the same. Even if multi-system boot, it is not hard. You can backup the data to be recovered after the system boot turn to be normal, and then restore the multi system boot.

Recover MBR by fdisk
The simplest way to recover MBR is Fdisk, whose command is simple too; you can use “Fdisk/MBR”.   Please note that, the hard disk to be operated should be connected on mater IDE interface as the master hard disk. As to other connection way, we need appoint the interface location of IDE device in form of “Fdisk/CMBR”.

The command syntax of Fdisk command line is “Fdisk/parameter switch”. Besides that obtained by “FDISK/?”, there are some hidden parameters information:

/ACTOK
Parameter Function: not to check bad sectors on disk surface
Details: It can speed up partition operation.

/CMBR
Parameter Function: to re-create MBR of appointed disk
Details: Equals to /MBR parameter, except that it can appoint certain disk
/EXT
Parameter Function: to create extend partition.
Details: Creates extend partition on the currency disk , which used to create logical partition.}
/FPRMT
Parameter Function: to check the usage of FAT16 and FAT32 in interactive mode.
Details: When /FPRMT parameter is added, there will be no query of that whether supports high- capacity hard disk; while there will be a query that it uses FAT16 or FAT32 when creating a new partition.
/LO
Parameter Function: to rebuild logical partition.
Details: Used to create logical disk, /LOG and /EXT should work together.
/LOGO
Parameter Function: to create logical partition with FAT16
/MBR
Parameter Function: to re-create MBR of master disk
Details: to clear the system booting choice recorded in MBR after uninstalling Windows NT or Windows 2000
/PRI

Parameter Function: to create primary partition and activate it.
Details: e to create primary partition, and the partition will be set active automatically.
/PRIO
Parameter Function: to create primary partition of FAT16 and activate it.
/Q
Parameter Function: not to restart computer when ending Fdisk
Details: unnecessary to restart computer after changing the partition table.

/STATUS
Parameter Function: to display details of current partition
Details: When there is no logical partition in extend partition, the extend partition will not be displayed.
/X
Parameter Function: no LBA attribute
Details: there would be no partition with LBA attribute.

It makes handier to use Fdisk with these parameters. However, to hide the parameter will be more dangerous, which calls for more caution.

Uses Fixmbr to restore MBR
Provided by Microsoft, Fixmbr is a MBR recovery tool, which determines hard disk partition and re-construct MBR through overall search.

Only when using Windows 2000 recovery console that we can use Fixmbr. Windows 2000 recovery console can boot from Windows install CD. Fixmbr only revises MBR; it does not write other sectors, which is safe. You can get help information of Fixmbr as following when using Fixmbr/?.

fix-mbr

The parameter “DriveNo” is to write a new MBR (driver). The device name can be obtained from output of the map command. For example, device name:
/Device/HardDisk0

The following command is to write a new MBR to the appointed device:
fixmar /Device/HardDisk0

Attention: If we do not assign DriverNo, the new MBR will be written in booting device, namely the driver that loads host system. If the system detects invalid or the non-standard partition mark, it will prompt that whether continue to execute this command or not. Only if there are some problems with the driver you visit; otherwise, please do not continue.

By default MBR structure will be checked. If it is abnormal, it will prompt that whether recover or not. If choose “Y”, it will search partitions. When it has found the partition, it will also prompt that whether to revise MBR or not. If choose “Y”, recovery will be finished. If the system is down now, please inactivate the anti-virus function in BIOS first and then continue.

By default, it will search all existing hard disk, and finish all mentioned operations above. If the result is not right, you may use “/Z” parameter to clear the result and restart; then it returns to the original condition.

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