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Does format modify or change MBR

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by fahimsolkar

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I have a DELL system which has come with a utility called PC Restore...provided by Symantec..which helps me restore my system to factory defaults when I run it....Its a great utility which saves me a lot of time & effort...But lately I have been facing some serious problems...with my system...for I was planning to go in for a debug or in short format reinstall.. I am just curious to know...if this will destroy the MBR n the pointer files which trigger the PC Restore..I believe it will.. modify the MBR.. if I format .. Am I correct.. or if I am wrong pls lemme know what exactly will happen..??

Thanks & Regards,

Fahim Solkar...

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by stress junkie

We are talking about custom software from Dell so you should call them or visit their web site to find the answer to your question. The MS DOS format utility will not change the MBR on a hard disk without a parameter to do so. It will erase the MBR on a floppy disk. You have to give it the parameter /MBR to make it rewrite the MBR or the /SYS parameter to make it write the MBR and the two boot files on.

If you have a bootable CDROM or DVD that came with the computer and that is labeled something like "Dell System Restore" then this should put your hard disk back to the configuration that it came with from the factory. These system restore disks will format your hard disk so you will lose any data that is stored on the disk. If you do this then be sure to reinstall any patches that are available for your system before you do anything else.

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