The master boot record is located in the first sector of a hard drive, and while it has different functions it is commonly known for finding bootable partitions in the partition tables and loading the boot sector which often is a boot loader.

A damaged or modified MBR means that the operating systems cannot be loaded, which is what the Alureon Rootkit causes on some operating systems.

A backup of the master boot record is often the best and most convenient way to repair the information so that the system can boot normally.

MBRFix

MBRFix is a command line tool for Windows, that can be used for lots of advanced commands that manipulate or process the MBR. Among the options is the ability to backup and restore the master boot record. The program comes as a 32-bit and 64-bit edition. Here are the commands needed to backup and restore the MBR:

MbrFix /drive 0 listpartitions
MbrFix /drive 0 savembr Backup_MBR_0.bin
MbrFix /drive 0 restorembr Backup_MBR_0.bin

The first command lists all partitions of drive 0, the second backs up the master boot record of the first drive of the system in the file Backup_MBR_0.bin, the last restores the previously created MBR backup to the drive.

MBRTool

mbr backup

Another command line tool for Windows which comes with a basic menu which makes the program usage a bit easier. MBRTool can be used to backup all MBRs automatically, or work with specific master boot records. The user interface makes it easier to work with, even though it does not make a big difference compared to MBRFix.

HDHacker

master boot sector

The only program with a graphical user interface. HDHacker can backup and restore any sector of a partition, but has a specific option to backup and restore the MBR sector. It is probably the easiest to use of all the three programs of this guide.

That leaves a question: How often should you backup the MBR? A backup is only necessary if something in the setup of the PC changes, for instance if another operating system is installed or removed, or if the hard drive partitions are changed.

It is therefor always a good precaution to backup the Master Boot Record to be able to restore it. This could be handy before installing another operating system or in case the Master Boot Record gets corrupted another way.

HD Hacker is a portable software compatible with Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista that can be used to backup and restore the Master Boot Record or any other sector the user specifies. It offers the option to select the drive by drive letter or physical drive.

The software supports two read and write operations. A sector can be read from disk or file and can be saved to disk or file as well. To backup the Master Boot Record one would Read the boot sector from disk and save it to file afterwards. This ensures that the Master Book Record can be recovered anytime in case something should alter or corrupt it.

Windows boot manager Boot-US is a universal boot manager that can boot many operating systems properly including all versions of Microsoft Windows from Windows 95 to Windows Server 2008, MS-Dos, Linux, Free BSD, VMWare and several exotic operating systems like Oberon, Novel-DOS or QNX Realtime Plattform.

The boot manager itself can be installed in the MBR (Master Boot Record), the primary partition or on disk. The latter being an excellent way of testing the boot manager before installing it on the hard drive.

Other interesting functions of the Windows boot manager are (Windows because it is a Windows application):

• Support for hard disks up to 2048 GB (2 TB)
• Allows booting beyond the 8 GB limit
• Partitions can be created, deleted, activated and hid
• Password protection for boot manager and configuration program
• Command-line and GUI version
• True hiding of partitions

During program start the Windows boot manager is displaying the discovered partitions and the existing operating systems. It is important to make sure that the information that are displayed are correct before installing the boot manager. The user should also consider making backups of the list of partitions and boot sectors to be able to revert back if the installation of the boot manager goes wrong in any way. Those are just precautionary measures.

After that the user should install the boot manager to a floppy disk first if one is installed on the computer system. Most modern computers come without a floppy disk drive. Those users can check out the Copy and run Floppy Boot Disks from USB to add the boot manager to an USB device and boot the computer system from that device to be able to test the boot manager. Make sure to select Do not change partitions IDs in step four of the boot manager creation.

When the test is going through without errors the boot manager can be installed on the primary partition or Master Boot Record. The software developers recommend to install the boot manager in the primary partition if possible.

The Windows Boot Manager Boot-US was tested on a Windows XP Service Pack 3 test system without difficulties.