hard drive - How does Diskpart Clean All affect MBR and implications?

07
2014-07
  • Myath

    I want to overhaul my entire internal hard drive, re-partition it, and re-install Windows Vista. After booting on the Vista Installation Disk and opening Command Prompt, I'm not sure whether to use Diskpart Clean or Diskpart Clean All. Because Clean All is said to zero the entire hard drive including the MBR effectively destroying it, so would the computer still be able to boot afterward without MBR?

    The reason I want to this is because after accidentally diskpart-clean-ing the internal disk where my Vista OS lied and using TestDisk to recover the partitions, the screen stays black after loading Windows title during the boot (regardless of whatever option I choose in the F8 Advanced Boot Options). However it doesn't remain dark if I boot on a live DVD such as Hiren's BootDVD.

    Thanks.

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    windows 7 - How to easily remove Win7 MBR? (I always boot TrueCrypt loader from a CD-R)
  • Paul Lockwood

    To mitigate damage from a virus infecting a Windows 7 MBR I boot into TrueCrypt encrypted windows from a CD (changed BIOS to boot CD first). I plan to boot other Operating Systems from external hard drives and feel removing the MBR is a wise step in prevent a virus from jumping from one of those to the main encrypted OS.

    Googling shows the only way to remove an MBR is use Linux or remove the hard drive and connect to another machine. Is this true?

    In summary I am looking for an easy way to achieve remove the MBR, preferably via a GUI as that will minimize risk of damaging any actual data. Perhaps it's possible to boot into Windows from an external hard drive then use DiskPart to clean the MBR on the internal drive (after selecting disk and partition).


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  • kinokijuf

    Boot into a linux live CD, and use this command:

    dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1

    (substitute /dev/sda for your HDD)

    Be careful not to make a typo. If you forget the count parameter, it will erase your entire hard drive!