I would BLINDLY trust: dd if=other-MBR.iso of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1 I would NOT trust FIXBOOT and/or just about anything Micro$haft to manipulate my partitions... ;-) THANKS!!! ET Stephen writes: > yes, however if you have a windows XP disk you just boot it, hit the > option to go to the repair console type FIXBOOT and then fdisk /mbr > and it rebuilds the MBR as well. > > On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 8:16 AM, kitepilot@kitepilot.com > wrote: >>>> get the 446-byte boot record from somewhere and dd it to /dev/sda >> I LIKE THIS IDEA!!!   :) >> Are you telling me that I can just grab those 446 bytes from *ANY* WinXP >> box, copy them to my MBR and the laptop will boot?  8) >> That's a pretty "un-risky" proposition...   :) >> Thanks! >> ET >> >> >> >> >> Matt Graham writes: >> >>> From: "kitepilot@kitepilot.com" >>>> I went and installed Kubuntu 9.10 (which uses GRUB 2) on the flash >>>> drive and forgot to tell the thing to leave /dev/sda alone... >>>> >>>> Now the machine only boots from the flash drive. >>>> My plan is to backup the 512 bytes of the MBR and (MOST IMPORTANT!) >>>> the partition table and use "something" (insert cloud of ignorance >>>> here) to rebuild the windoze boot record. >>> >>> Run FIXMBR or FDISK /MBR from a 'Doze boot CD.  Failing that, get the >>> 446-byte boot record from somewhere and dd it to /dev/sda .  There's >>> actually no need to do anything with the partition table here. >>> >>>> Can I trust whichever tool I use (and hope you will tell me) to >>>> leave the partition contents alone or [had] I better dd the whole >>>> 250GB of /dev/sda somewhere else in case *IT* happens? >>> >>> There will be no need to back up things if you use the tools in the >>> previous paragraph. >>> >>> -- >>> Matt G / Dances With Crows >>> The Crow202 Blog:  http://crow202.org/wordpress/ >>> There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see >>> >>> >>> >>> --------------------------------------------------- >>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >>> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> --------------------------------------------------- >> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> > > > > -- > A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from > rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button. > > Stephen > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss