Visual Basic PowerWrap 3.0.0.0 With ExeShield it’s easy to turn your applications into “try before you buy” software with very little effort, and maximum protection against piracy, backdating, reverse-engineering.
5. MBRFix
MBRFix is another command line based Master Boot Record fix, backup and restore utility, but has some other partition and volume tasks available that are similar to those found in the Windows DiskPart tool. They include information about volumes and drives, listing partitions, cleaning the drive of partitions and setting the active partition. The MBR itself can be backed up with the savembr {filename} argument and restorembr {filename} to do the opposite with an added option to save any sector range to a file. This utility should NOT be used for GUID Partition Table (GPT) disks.
If you like the idea of using MBR Fix from the comfort of a GUI, a small frontend tool called Ultimate MBRGUI will enable you to run both MBR Fix and MBR Wizard essentially using point and click to execute all of the command line functions. The GUI will run with the latest version of MBR Fix but not MBR Wizard as mentioned.
Download MbrFix
6. MBRUtil
MBRUtil is actually from PowerQuest many years ago before they got swallowed up by Symantec in 2003. This utility is quite basic and has an option to save the Master Boot Record to a file, and then another to restore it back again. It can also save and restore the first head of the drive which is the first 62 sectors, MBR is only the first sector. Usage is MBRUtil.exe /S={filename} or /R={filename}. The zip file also contains another small tool called WipeTrk which will wipe sectors 2 to 63 leaving the MBR itself intact.
Download MBRUtil
7. MBR Backup
If you want a nice and easy to use Master Boot Record backup and restore tool, then MBR Backup could be what you’re looking for. Simply start the portable executable and it will display the MBR of disk in Hex, the drive can be changed from the drop down. Then all you have to do is click on Save or Print MBR to back it up, and choose the Restore option to put the Boot Record back again. Apart from being able to show the partition table of each physical drive, MBR Backup has no other options and is surely a simple tool for simple MBR backup and restore tasks.
Download MBR Backup
8. MBR Scan
MBR Scan isn’t able to restore your Master Boot Record, but it does let you view it and make a backup of the MBR which can be restored by other tools such as MBR Wizard etc. What makes this tool useful is the information about the drives and partitions is all nicely laid out in an easy to understand format, which makes it also a useful security tool for checking on any suspicious activity in the Master Boot Record itself. There’s also a hex sector viewer where you can save specific sectors. Press Scan to populate the window with the available drives and the Dump button will save the MBR to the same folder as MBR Scan.
Download MBR Scan
Special Note: It’s well worth mentioning that one of our favorite bootable Live Windows and repair CD’s is loaded with a number of Master Boot Record tools in both its DOS and Live Windows sections. Hiren’s Boot CD has over 20 tools including BootICE, HDHacker, MBRWizard, MbrFix and the MBR Tool from this list. It’s well worth a look if you want to have a set of tools ready to go in the event your computer corrupts its MBR unexpectedly.
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4 Portable Tools to Make a Full Image Backup of USB Drives5 Tools to Backup and Restore your Windows Drivers4 Free Tools to Quickly Restore Windows on RebootEASEUS Todo Backup Free Disk Imaging Software (Norton Ghost Alternative)5 Ways To Backup and Restore the Windows Registry or Selected HivesI’ve got a pen drive in MBR format and wish to convert it back to NTFS. Please which of these softwares can do that for me? I don’t care about the files in the drive so I don’t mind formatting. All I Want is to make my pen drive Usable again. Thanks
Replyi rally like those softwares and i respect this website,you actually posted best sofwares ,thank you greats
ReplyI am running on Windows 7, every time I have to repair my MBR for a successfull boot. Is there anything which can permanantly repair my MBR please?
Hello Shot,you can do the transformation in a single phase (formally): to not write and read the xml file you don't need, connect the output edge to the SystemExecute component. In first phase, use SystemExecute to convert your.RRD data into XML (call 'rrdump'). In second phase, use XMLExtract component to parse the XML data. May be sometimes in the future we will create a specialized reader for RRD format (if there is enough demand for it).Nonetheless, the rrdump seems to me currently as a viable alternative.As for your question - CloverETL does not have any internal database. You can create transformation graph which will read RRD data (converted into XML) and then do whatever you need - combine it with other data, store it into database or create some other data format (perhaps XML).My suggestion would be to create a transformation graph with 2 phases. Rrd format.
ReplySome weeks ago I downloaded Bootice without any problems, but some days ago my antivirus deleted it because I tried to unhide a partition, so the antivirus classified it as a suspicious malware operation and deleted it automatically. Unfortunately I didn’t make a backup copy of the program, so I tried to download it again from the link given there, but the server (bbs.ipauly.com) gave me a “500 Internal Server Error”. I tried so many times but that server is still not working. Could you please help me and give me another link?
Thank you.
The link has been updated with an alternative download page.
ReplyOk, thanks very much, another time you suggested me a very good software. Keep this blog going.
ReplyIs it possible to copy all bootfile from a bootable usb with this? I need to make a pcmcia card bootable with fat16, dos and haven’t found any tool having support for pcmcia in dosmode….
ReplyI did create a restore point just yesterday and also made a full files backup, but MBR was corrupted and when starting windows I only get the “Dell Utility Boot Menu”.
Can I restore the MBR even if I don’t have a saved MBR specifically?
Thanks – Don
You can try something like BootIce to create a new MBR although you should make sure you have a full backup of the system first, just in case…
ReplyCan someone tell me how to fix my Dell USB Portable HDD? I try to fix it with HDD Regenerator but it is said “Master Boot Record of this hard drive is Damaged!”. It’s probably because of my HDD fell (but still hang on the USB cable) and hit the other thing when still working on my notebook. Is it possible to fix my HDD now.?
I didn’t understand a thing about this, and now I’m googling around hope I can fix my HDD if possible…
See my (pol098) response to the same question below; even the fiorst sentence is unfortunately still relevant: “Probably too late for the asker of the question, but often a standard MBR is used …”. A good tool for manipulating the MBR is BOOTICE.
ReplyHi, so I know this is an old thread, but what if I don’t have a backup of my MBR and it is now corrupt and showing as a RAW drive in windows. I dont want to lose the 2TB of data, any ideas. Thanks in advance
ReplyProbably too late for the asker of the question, but often a standard MBR is used, and there are several tools to create one. There are also tools that can help in the case of a non-standard MBR; they require a fair amount of experimenting. Unlike other disc corruption, you can try several possible MBRs without too much risk of damaging the data on the drive (which you can’t get access to until you’ve sorted out the MBR). This reply should be moderately helpful despite not naming the tools (I haven’t done this for a very long time); if you know that something can be done, it’s not too hard to find out how.
Replyok, so if i save a copy of my mbr to c:mbr.dat and then my mbr gets corrupted , i won’t be able to restore my copy of mbr from that location because all data on my drive will be inaccessible without a valid mbr? help, confused now….i guess i’d better save it to a different drive
ReplyYes, of course you don’t keep the copy of the MBR on the C: drive, we were just using that as an example location. It’s like backing up your files or hard drive, you store it in another location so you can restore after a severe problem.
ReplyThere’s always the possibility that you did something which damaged your MBR but did not wipe your backup off the drive.
Replythhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaankssssssssssss………………………
i made damage to a friends usb and i owed 3000 rs .u saved meeee.
Hi Raymond. Which if any of these tools will allow me to move a missing mbr from an older computer to a new computer? For instance, when running a specific program, the program will not continue because it says grldr.mbr is missing. Thanks for your response in advance.
ReplyThere’s plenty of these tools mentioned on Hirens Boot CD, you can boot with that and restore a previously saved MBR to your drive.
Trying to use an MBR off another hard drive won’t work because an MBR stores drive and partition data as well, so you’ll screw up the whole partition.
ReplyDoes the MBR change whenever files are modified on the drive? Just wondering if regular backups should be made.
Thanks.
ReplyNo, the MBR only changes when you’re doing something like formatting the drive, creating/deleting partitions or installing Windows.
ReplyThanks for the list, just what I needed.
Good job mate!
Excellent stuff! I have used mbrwizard for years, and am very pleased with this little app, but it’s always nice to keep up with the various technologies. Thanks for your willingness to test and share!
Replythis is a fantastic find! MBR definitely needs back up and your list offers a perfect solution.
wonderful post!
Replythis is great!! thanks
ReplyAmazing article as always, you rock Raymond.
ReplyMany thanks Raymond,
No matter how much we know – there are always things to learn. This sort of concise explanation is helpful and right on the button for the huge number of members who have little expertise or in-depth knowledge of the vaguaries of harware and software. Thank you from all of them.
Thanks for the article, just when I need it.
Replyvery useful tips. when my MBR gone, i had to reformat my pc . but now i didn’t need to reformat … just restore the MBR.
Thank you.
Great. Thanks.
Reply