How do I remove an overlay and restore the orginal boot sector.

  • Thread starter Thread starter EGBL
  • Start date Start date
E

EGBL

Please advise,

I have an older 20GB Maxtor Diamond max + I would like to bring into my new
system.
My older system needed the EZ BIOS overlay to allow the whole 20Gig to be
recognized. Now that I have a new sytem that does not need the overlay, I am
at a loss as to how to restore the original boot sector since I no longer
have the diskette with which I originally used to set it up.

I have been using the drive with the overlay intact and it works fine.
However, I believe if I can restore it to the original boot sector, I will
notice an improvement in performance. Is this a correct assumption or not
and if so, is there a free program out there that I can use?


Thank you in advance,

Rob
 
I have an older 20GB Maxtor Diamond max + I would like to bring into my new
system.
Click to expand...

As a slave or what ?
My older system needed the EZ BIOS overlay to allow the whole 20Gig to be
recognized. Now that I have a new sytem that does not need the overlay, I am
at a loss as to how to restore the original boot sector since I no longer have
the diskette with which I originally used to set it up.
Click to expand...
I have been using the drive with the overlay intact and it works fine.
However, I believe if I can restore it to the original boot sector, I will
notice an improvement in performance. Is this a correct assumption or not
Click to expand...

Nope, it shouldnt make any difference.
and if so, is there a free program out there that I can use?
Click to expand...

If you want to get rid of whatever crap is installed on the
drive, the simplest approach is to run clearhdd from
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/clearhdd.htm
and just wipe the first few hundred tracks and just partition and
format the drive again. That will obviously lose the data on the drive.
 
Thnak you.


Rod Speed said:
As a slave or what ?
Click to expand...
Secondary Master. My CD-ROM is Primary slave.
Nope, it shouldnt make any difference.
Click to expand...
I guess I can leave then, it unless I want to repartition.
If you want to get rid of whatever crap is installed on the
drive, the simplest approach is to run clearhdd from
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/clearhdd.htm
and just wipe the first few hundred tracks and just partition and
format the drive again. That will obviously lose the data on the drive.
Click to expand...
Thanks again. I'll check it out
 
EGBL said:
Please advise,

I have an older 20GB Maxtor Diamond max + I would like to bring into my new
system.
My older system needed the EZ BIOS overlay to allow the whole 20Gig to be
recognized. Now that I have a new sytem that does not need the overlay,
Click to expand...

You don't specify the installed OS on the overlay drive. I'll therefore assume
Windows 9x or Millennium.
I am
at a loss as to how to restore the original boot sector since I no longer
have the diskette with which I originally used to set it up.
Click to expand...

That's simple since you had EZ-bios. Hook your drive in the new PC and boot it
of floppy to DOS or FreeDOS. Then use Ptedit or any sector editor to change the
partition type byte in the MBR from 85 (decimal), which specifies EZ-bios, to 12
(0Ch). This should let you access the drive normally, with all its data on it,
from any modern PC.

Next run FDISK /CMBR n, where n is the number of the drive in your system, 1 for
boot drive, 2 for second, etc. This will overwrite the MBR loader with standard
Windows code.

Finally, if you plan using Ghost or PM on that drive then you'll also have to
run CleanTrackZero to clear the remains of the overlay from the drive's track 0.
From www.resq.co.il/iv_tools.php#cleantrk
I have been using the drive with the overlay intact and it works fine.
However, I believe if I can restore it to the original boot sector, I will
notice an improvement in performance. Is this a correct assumption or not
and if so, is there a free program out there that I can use?
Click to expand...

All the above is free.

Regards, Zvi
 
I presume you used maxblast or something similar to install the
overlay. You can also use it to remove the overlay.
 
I suggest you use partition table doctor.It provides very useful
functions: Backup partition table, Restore partition table, Rebuild
partition table, undelete partition,Fixboot.
see more:http://www.ptdd.com
 
Irwin said:
I presume you used maxblast or something similar to install the
overlay. You can also use it to remove the overlay.
Click to expand...

It will also disrupt access to the drive and the data on it.
 
If you arent booting the drive, the overlay wont be loaded.
Click to expand...
Then I guess my thinking is off. LOL The drive is partitioned into 4 drives
that show up as D,E,F and G and I would like to repartition so that I have
simply D
 
Zvi Netiv said:
You don't specify the installed OS on the overlay drive. I'll therefore
assume
Windows 9x or Millennium.
Click to expand...

I've removed the O/S but am not able to reformat the drive at a low enough
level as to bring the partitions back in to one.
That's simple since you had EZ-bios. Hook your drive in the new PC and
boot it
of floppy to DOS or FreeDOS. Then use Ptedit or any sector editor to
change the
partition type byte in the MBR from 85 (decimal), which specifies EZ-bios,
to 12
(0Ch). This should let you access the drive normally, with all its data
on it,
from any modern PC.

Next run FDISK /CMBR n, where n is the number of the drive in your system,
1 for
boot drive, 2 for second, etc. This will overwrite the MBR loader with
standard
Windows code.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I will try this ....
 
EGBL said:
[...]

I've removed the O/S but am not able to reformat the drive at a low enough
level as to bring the partitions back in to one.
Click to expand...

You mean *repartition* the drive as one partition. You can't reconfigure the
drive because of the EZ-bios partition type. You need to remove the existing
EZ-bios partition(s) first, and the standard tools won't let you do it.

If you still have the original utility with which you installed EZ-bios then it
has a removal option. Or you could use RESQDISK, with the /KILL switch.

Note that by just removing the EZ-bios partition(s) you'll also lose all the
files in them!
Thank you. I will try this ....
Click to expand...

Pay attention to details! Running FDISK /CMBR n refreshes the MBR loader only,
but leaves the partition table intact. You'll be left with an unbootable drive,
not even from floppy, and inaccessible partitions. I doubt that this is what
you want.

Regards, Zvi
 
Back
Top