Need a tool to copy MBR, but NOT partition table -- help!

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Guest

I am trying to upgrade my boot drive, and when I ghost
my entire drive, then boot up the machine with the
source drive to inspect the target drive, and start
PartitionMagic to do so, PartitionMagic complains that
the geometry of the partition table doesn't match the
drives actual geometry.

Fair enough... but it doesn't let me do anything with
the drive, but just marks it "BAD".

The thing is, I NEED to copy my MBR over to the new
drive, since it contains some BootMagic code.

Does anyone know how I can get around PartitionMagic's
complaints? What are the most dependable Win32-based
programs I can use for manually modifying a drive's
partition table? And is there a program out there that
will copy everything in the MBR *except* the partition
table?

Is there any utility that comes with Windows to do this,
or will I need to use something else?

- Tim
 
Spammay Blockay said:
I am trying to upgrade my boot drive, and when I ghost
my entire drive, then boot up the machine with the
source drive to inspect the target drive, and start
PartitionMagic to do so, PartitionMagic complains that
the geometry of the partition table doesn't match the
drives actual geometry.

Fair enough... but it doesn't let me do anything with
the drive, but just marks it "BAD".
Click to expand...

PowerQuest's partinfo would list actual partition table errors, have you
tried that?
The thing is, I NEED to copy my MBR over to the new
drive, since it contains some BootMagic code.

Does anyone know how I can get around PartitionMagic's
complaints? What are the most dependable Win32-based
programs I can use for manually modifying a drive's
partition table? And is there a program out there that
will copy everything in the MBR *except* the partition
table?

Is there any utility that comes with Windows to do this
No.

,
or will I need to use something else?
Yes.


- Tim
Click to expand...

It's easier to:

Disable BootMagic on source > make the clone > enable BootMagic again.

By disabling BootMagic, it will restore the MBR to it's normal state again
so there would no longer be the need to worry about that. Also, I *think*
Ghost has the option to include the MBR code, I know Drive Image does offer
this option. You may want to check the Ghost documentation on that.
 
PowerQuest's partinfo would list actual partition table errors, have you
tried that?
Click to expand...

Yes... actually, I got everything working, except
one thing (see below).
It's easier to:

Disable BootMagic on source > make the clone > enable BootMagic again.

By disabling BootMagic, it will restore the MBR to it's normal state again
so there would no longer be the need to worry about that. Also, I *think*
Ghost has the option to include the MBR code, I know Drive Image does offer
this option. You may want to check the Ghost documentation on that.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much what I've decided to do... the only
problem was getting BootMagic copied over, which I don't
really need (and I think I'll replace it with something
like BootItNG, which everyone here seems to feel is a
better product, and also which you can install on a target
drive without having to boot Windows).

Incidentally, I noticed that when I copied more than just the MBR
(in my initial try at this, where I let Ghost copy the MBR all the
way through the end of the first partition), BootMagic worked.
When I just copied the MBR, it said BootMagic was corrupt.

I'm a little confused... I thought the MBR was the only thing
before the first partition. Is there other code that is on
the 1st track besides the MBR? I haven't seen much in the way
of documentation about it.

- Tim

--
 
Spammay Blockay said:
I'm a little confused... I thought the MBR was the only thing
before the first partition. Is there other code that is on
the 1st track besides the MBR? I haven't seen much in the way
of documentation about it.

- Tim
Click to expand...

BootMagic uses some more sectors in track 0. It's not 'fixed' which sectors
it will use, it will determine that dynamically, it will skip sectors that
are already in use (for example by the PQ virtual diskette that works in a
very similar way as BootMagic).
 
The Windows NT Workstation resource Kit contains a Windows based utility
named DiskProbe. It's a sector editor for Windows NT Workstation and Server.
I imagine that it will work with Win2000/XP as well. There may already be a
WinXP Resource Kit available from Microsoft with a different version of
DiskProbe (if the older version doesn't work on WinXP).

DiskProbe allows a user with local Administrator rights to directly edit,
save and copy data on the physical hard drive that is not accessible in any
other way.

You can use DiskProbe to replace the Master Boot Record (MBR), repair
damaged partition table information and to repair or replace damaged
Partition Boot Sectors (PBS) or other file system data. Even with the
utility that requires considerable knowledge!

DiskProbe can also save Master Boot Records and Partition Boot Sectors as
files. They can then be replaced if the sectors become damaged at a later
time. These on-disk data structures are not accessible through the file
system, and so are not saved by any backup programs currently available.

Restrictions

Only users with local Administrator rights can use DiskProbe to access the
physical disk. Other users can run DiskProbe, but in the "Open Physical
Drive" dialog box, no physical drives will be listed.

DiskProbe will run under Windows 95, but no physical drives will be
available. Windows 95 still uses BIOS Interrupt 13 calls for disk access,
and does not support the kernel mode calls necessary to access large
physical drives. But under Windows 95 you can still open, edit, and save
files as raw hex data.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

There are other data recovery utilities available for repairing partition
tables and boot sectors; much easier to use than Microsoft's Diskprobe.
However, AFAIK they're all DOS based and utilize DOS boot diskettes, but
have easy-to-use windows; not line commands. Most support the use of a
mouse. Search for utilities from ACR Data Recovery (BPR and Media Tools),
PCWiz (Drive Clinic) and OnTrack (EasyRecovery).

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Also included in the WinNT Workstation Resource Kit is a DOS based utility
named DiskSave. It has windows which don't require line commands. It can
save the MBR, PBS or both to saved file(s). It can also restore those files
too. It cannot save partition tables. This is a far more useful utility than
DiskProbe for this purpose, because it can be operated via a DOS boot
diskette for restoration at a time when the MBR is corrupted by a virus and
Windows will not boot. DiskSave can work on a bootable HDD of *any*
installed OSes. Microsoft DiskSave is a simple, easy-to-use utility.
 
The Windows NT Workstation resource Kit contains a Windows based utility
named DiskProbe. It's a sector editor for Windows NT Workstation and Server.
I imagine that it will work with Win2000/XP as well. There may already be a
WinXP Resource Kit available from Microsoft with a different version of
DiskProbe (if the older version doesn't work on WinXP).
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice. I ended up booting Linux and just
using 'dd' to copy the particular bytes I wanted to copy.
Since I wasn't absolutely confident of sector size, location
of the various bits on the drive, etc. I thought a tool that
was aware of my disk architecture would be better.

In the end, using 'dd' worked just fine.

- Tim

--
 
Thanks for your advice. I ended up booting Linux and just
using 'dd' to copy the particular bytes I wanted to copy.
Since I wasn't absolutely confident of sector size, location
of the various bits on the drive, etc. I thought a tool that
was aware of my disk architecture would be better.
Click to expand...
In the end, using 'dd' worked just fine.
Click to expand...

Many people make that experience ;-)

Arno
 
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