How to use DOS to fix the master boot record

-- HS

Answer: Yes, you can rebuild your master boot record that way and all the information on the drive will be retained. The MBR is an acronym for Master Boot Record. It's a little program that runs when a computer starts up. It finds which part of the hard drive is in charge and hands off the start up processes to it. Usually, the MBR is on the first sector (or chunk of storage space) of a hard drive. When it runs, it figures out which partition on a hard drive to use for booting. Then it passes off control to the boot area on the primary partition (usually the C: drive) and promptly goes back to sleep.

H.S. wants to delete and recreate the MBR with a DOS program called FDISK using a switch. A switch is designated by a "/" symbol. At the DOS prompt, he'd type "FDISK/mbr" and a new MBR would be created.

There's a particular variant of a computer virus that delights in infecting the MBR. Using FDISK/mbr will overwrite an infected MBR.

If you suspect that the MBR is damaged, a more powerful tool like Hard Drive Mechanic might be required.

More about the MBR and related topics is at http://webopedia.internet.com/TERM/M/MBR.html.

More details about the MBR, the boot process and virus removal is here.

If this column still doesn't fully help you with your MBR problems or answer questions that you may have, you should see our Emergency Help page for personalized help.