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Can a Master Boot Record become "partially" corrupt when you clone a hard drive?

Tags:
  • Boot
  • Storage
  • Windows 7
  • Hard Drives
Last response: in Storage
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March 3, 2014 12:14:31 PM

Q: If there's an error with the Master Boot Record (MBR) or boot code on my hard drive, can Windows 7 still load in some cases?

The reason I ask:

I successfully cloned my original hard drive to a new hard drive. Not long after, something went wrong with my original hard drive (I accidentally marked the wrong partition as "active" and could no longer boot) and I decided to fix it by cloning the NEW hard drive back to the original (assuming the new hard drive had the same exact data, including MBR and boot loader). When I did this, I had to edit the MBR with a program called EasyBCD to add the new hard drive as a boot option at the boot menu at startup. Note that I can successfully boot from either hard drive and all appears to work properly. However, is it possible that my cloning procedure created something like a "partially" corrupt MBR on the original hard drive that may lead to problems down the road? Should I run the Windows 7 Repair Disc and use the recovery tools to fix the MBR (even if it isn't broken)?

More about : master boot record partially corrupt clone hard drive

March 3, 2014 12:31:25 PM

If anyone is interested and can check it, this is the boot info from EasyBCD:


a c 327 G Storage
March 3, 2014 2:32:38 PM

If you clone the drive, sector by sector, then the clone will be an exact copy of the original. This process is referred to as "imaging".

Alternatively, you could make a "logical" clone of the drive onto a larger drive by recreating the file system and partitions. This will also defragment your files and consolidate the free space.

When you mark a partition as "active", you change a flag in the partition table.

In the following example, partition #1 has an "active" flag (0x80) at offset 0x1BE.

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

0000001B0 00 00 00 00 00 2C 44 63 64 B9 64 B9 00 00 80 01
0000001C0 01 00 0C FE FF FF 3F 00 00 00 02 68 54 02 00 00
0000001D0 C1 FF 0F FE FF FF 41 68 54 02 BF EA 53 02 00 00
0000001E0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0000001F0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 AA
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