Backup MBR - MBRwizard

  • Thread starter Thread starter jamesbohner
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J

jamesbohner

Hi All,

I am preparing to install Linux on my Windows box (as dual boot), but
want to be prepared in case things go wrong. I understand I need to
backup my MBR so that I can restore it back if needed. How does
backing up the MBR really help me in this situation?

Googling around I found MBRwizard, http://mbrwizard.com, which seems
to be able to backup and restore the entire MBR, has anyone had any
experience with this application? Any thoughts before I dig into this
are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
James
 
Previously [email protected] said:
Hi All,
Click to expand...
I am preparing to install Linux on my Windows box (as dual boot), but
want to be prepared in case things go wrong. I understand I need to
backup my MBR so that I can restore it back if needed. How does
backing up the MBR really help me in this situation?
Click to expand...

That is untrue. Grub will boot windows fine, even if you do
not have Linux on the Box. Of course for boot-manager
(re-)insta;;ation, you may need a working Linux, but that can
also be a Linux installed on CD (Knoppix) or memory stick and
not on the machine itself.

Also you can reconstruct the original MBR with a Windows recovery
CD, no need to back it up.
Googling around I found MBRwizard, http://mbrwizard.com, which seems
to be able to backup and restore the entire MBR, has anyone had any
experience with this application? Any thoughts before I dig into this
are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Note that Grub automatically makes a copy of the old MBR and is
able to reinstall it. Just have a look into the Grub manual.

Arno
 
Hi All,

I am preparing to install Linux on my Windows box (as dual boot), but
want to be prepared in case things go wrong. I understand I need to
backup my MBR so that I can restore it back if needed. How does
backing up the MBR really help me in this situation?

Googling around I found MBRwizard, http://mbrwizard.com, which seems
to be able to backup and restore the entire MBR, has anyone had any
experience with this application? Any thoughts before I dig into this
are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
James
Click to expand...

I've used it primarily to alter the disk signature. It doesn't work
right when booting DOS from a USB flash drive.
 
Am 17.10.2007 05:17 (e-mail address removed) wrote
I am preparing to install Linux on my Windows box (as dual boot), but
want to be prepared in case things go wrong. I understand I need to
Click to expand...

You may want to take greatest care, that the installation does not
overwrite any existing Windows partitions. Most of the "Easy-To-Use"
distros take care for that, but I just read a few days ago, how someone
lost his Windows partition due to an install of Ubuntu.

So, take care and back it up!

Good luck.
 
Hi All,
Click to expand...

All killed himself, got too much email.
I am preparing to install Linux on my Windows box (as dual boot),
but want to be prepared in case things go wrong. I understand I
need to backup my MBR so that I can restore it back if needed.
Click to expand...

Its better to image the entire physical drive, because some
linux installs can **** over the Win partitions and destroy them.
How does backing up the MBR really help me in this situation?
Click to expand...

It basically allows you to easily return the MBR to its original
state if whatever you are installing molests it too badly.
Googling around I found MBRwizard, http://mbrwizard.com,
which seems to be able to backup and restore the entire
MBR, has anyone had any experience with this application?
Click to expand...

Yep, plenty have found it works adequately for them.
Any thoughts before I dig into this are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

You really need to image the entire physical drive rather than just backup the
MBR, because some installs can **** over the Win installation unrecoverably.
 
Previously Andreas M. said:
Am 17.10.2007 05:17 (e-mail address removed) wrote
Click to expand...
You may want to take greatest care, that the installation does not
overwrite any existing Windows partitions. Most of the "Easy-To-Use"
distros take care for that, but I just read a few days ago, how someone
lost his Windows partition due to an install of Ubuntu.
Click to expand...

Well, they likely told the installer to use the wrong partition.
They might also have possibly ignored a warning of an already
existing filesystem.
So, take care and back it up!
Click to expand...

Backups are an absolute must for reliable computer opration anyways,
so just make sure yours are current.

Arno
 
Thanks for all the replies!

I have been playing with the MBRwiz utility for the past few days and
it seems to work really well. I have backed up, restored, and even
created a new WinXP MBR on my test machine, just to make sure I can
repair my main machine if things go wrong. This seems to be a nice
little tool that has found a place in my toolbox.

As far as system backup, Acronis True Image seems to be the way to
go. Any suggestions on imaging products?

Thanks again,
James
 
As far as system backup, Acronis True Image seems
to be the way to go. Any suggestions on imaging products?
Click to expand...


For cloning (as opposed to making image files), I like
Casper. (www.FSSdev.com/products/casper/ ). Like
Ghost (but unlike True Image), it can make a clone of a
single partition instead of the entire HD, and it can put
that clone on another HD among pre-existing other
partitions - handy for making multiply-bootable archival
copies of OSes as they evolve. That is, each can be
directly booted instead of having to undergo "restoration".

*TimDaniels*
 
Thanks for all the replies!

I have been playing with the MBRwiz utility for the past few days and
it seems to work really well. I have backed up, restored, and even
created a new WinXP MBR on my test machine, just to make sure I can
repair my main machine if things go wrong. This seems to be a nice
little tool that has found a place in my toolbox.

As far as system backup, Acronis True Image seems to be the way to
go. Any suggestions on imaging products?
Click to expand...

Thats what I prefer to use myself.
 
Am 18.10.2007 12:08 (e-mail address removed) wrote
As far as system backup, Acronis True Image seems to be the way to
go. Any suggestions on imaging products?
Click to expand...

There is people who love Acronis TrueImage and people who hate it. I
used to love it up to version 8. Back then everybody loved it. So they
became very successfull and started to become something, that I would
call a marketing-company. They split features into several versions
(makes the marketshare bigger) support is plain shit, the stories about
unreliable backups are not seldom.

With version 9Home all my backups were corrupt. Support was like this:

a) Get other USB drivers.

Where from ? I use the standard WindowsXP/SP2

b) Get a Firewire-Cable (cable !). Use this instead of your USB2.0

How is getting a Firewire cable enough for a USB2.0 system ? Of course,
I would have needed to buy a new external enclosure and a Firewire
controller for my PCI bus. Would have meant an additional investment of
ca. 60-70 Euro. Add this to the software's price, which was 50 Euro.
110-120 Euro. And that would have meant... (see below)

c) Check disk on another bus.

I checked it on SATA (before doing the previous recommendations). Still
corrupt archives.

d) Try and install the evaluation version of TI Home 10.

I did. And voilá ! Now the backups were fine. No corruption. TI10 worked
as TI9 was advertised.

Their offer ?

They would give me TI10 for the same upgrade price as I would have payed
regulary when upgrading from TI9 to TI10.

Pardon me ? It was *their* mistake, which clearly got solved in the new
version. It was a software-bug/incompetency on their side. They should
have silently offered me TI10 for free!

As it is now I purchased TI9Home and could never use it. Thrown out the
money, I'd say.

Other users moan about the frequency of new major revisions. The
arguments are similare: Old bugs still there, but no fixes and the new
version comes out, which needs to be payed for (again).

Also, many of the new features are pretty useless, IMO and more of a
marketing-type. Like the one-click backup of Outlook mails in the latest
release. Or application backups (and only a very few, exclusivley MS
products, are supported). The only new feature I like is the possibility
to mount File-Backups as VFS. Before one could only mount Image-Backups
this way. But: Why wasn't that already implemented in the last version ?
Don't want to be too harsh, but it was maybe just a design decision by
their marketing team, as to offer something valuable with V11.

And for those, who want to script the application. Only possible in the
proffesional version, and one needs to purchase the SDK seperatley
("Contact us"). Oh, come on !

No thanks. Since then I am seeking for a new Image solution, that adds
some of the comfort TrueImage has. I even theoretized about writing my
own, since I think Backups are one of the most important tasks and one
of the most underestimated things. But the taks would be too big for me,
at least, if I'd want to deliver some of the comfort functions, that I
find important (mounting archives as VFS, replacing Windows System
Restore, having VolumeShadowCopy, etc.)
 
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