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I stupidly deleted the MBR of a new HD in order to take a shortcut. For some reason, I can't write a new MBR to this HD. It's recognized in BIOS but not when doing a new installation and also not when connecting it to a different computer. Any idea what I can do with it?
Does it show up in Disk Mgmt in the other pc? I'd guess that it shows up as unallocated and that you should be able to partition and format it.
DBAN (Darik's Boot And Nuke)
http://www.dban.org/
?
I wish it were that easy. No, it doesn't show up there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve R Jones
I'll give that a try, thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by SpywareDr
FWIW, I've tried quite a few bootable programs that claim to fix the MBR. So far, only one recognized it and went through the motions of fixing it. It then tells you to save it before exiting to keep the changes, but the process fails as it can't save it for whatever reason.
Does the hard drive manufacturer have some sort of utility available on their website?
Spyware, I had run the Seagate tools, but only the quicktest which passed. I hadn't had the time to run the longer test which I did on your advice and it came out FAILED. Guess I'm not gonna bother with this anymore and just send it back for an exchange.
Thank you guys!
Arrrggg ... hate when that happens. Especially if a lot of time was invested, (fiddling with various software packages in an attempt to figure out what the heck is wrong).If the hardware isn't working right, the software never will. :(Anyway, good to hear you found the problem. Thanks for posting back. :)
The odd thing is that the disk worked perfectly before I deleted the MBR. I've never seen a disk stop working like that from deleting the MBR.
I haven't either. May have just been a coincidence.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too.
Stupid question (?) - did your try good ol' FDISK to partition and (re-)format the drive ?
Not a stupid question at all. And yes, I tried it but the hard disk wasn't recognized in DOS. It was strange because only certain programs actually recognized it but most didn't. In any case, none of the programs could fix it. I've sent it back to get it exchanged.
Good - get a shiny new one !
:)
Just got it half an hour ago :)