             Master Boot Record (MBR) Save and Restore Instructions

                         Version 3.02, 10/30/2001.
               Author: Greg Moler (sysop@allthatcounts.com)
         Available at:  http://www.allthatcounts.com/comp/mbr.htm

        Here are step-by-step instructions to install and operate getmbr.com
and restmbr.com.

1.  Make a DOS boot floppy.

           Boot to DOS.  If you do not have a hard disk with a DOS partition,
       find someone who does or who has a DOS boot floppy.  Go to the directory
       which contains format.exe or format.com (probably \DOS or \BIN).
           (If you run W95/98, type Start, Shut Down, Restart the computer in
       MS-DOS mode; after booting to DOS mode, cd\windows\command and proceed.
       Note: I believe later versions of W95/98 have reduced DOS
       capability (?).)
           Put a floppy disk into the floppy drive and type "format a: /s/u".
       Watch the formatting process on the screen: if there is any hesitation
       or reports of bad sectors, throw away the floppy and start again with
       another.  A good boot floppy contains at a minimum the following files:

          a.  command.com (if it is not there, it is not a boot floppy),
          b.  format.exe (or format.com),
          c.  fdisk.exe (or fdisk.com),
          d.  a text editor,
          e.  a cd-rom driver,
          f.  a mouse driver,
          g.  autoexec.bat and config.sys to load the cd-rom driver
              and/or the mouse driver if desired.

2.  Unzip mbr300.zip.  You should have the following files:

          a.  getmbr.com--program to save an MBR from a hard disk to a file,
          b.  restmbr.com--program to restore an MBR from a file to a hard
              disk,
          c.  ncget.com--text-only "no-confirm" version of getmbr.com,
          d.  ncrest.com--text-only "no-confirm" version of restmbr.com,
          e.  list.com--a DOS file viewer,
          f.  generic.mbr--a generic DOS MBR,
          g.  readme--this readme file,
          h.  readme.nc--readme file for ncget.com and ncrest.com,
          i.  attr.com--a utility to change attributes of a file,
          j.  ideget.com--programs used to remove disk managers from IDE drives,
          k.  iderest.com--                "
          l.  removedm.com--               "
          m.  readme.dm--readme file for ideget.com, iderest.com, and
              removedm.com,
          n.  warmboot.com--utility to warm boot the computer,
          o.  mbrerr.htm--a list of error messages (an html file),
          p.  mbrapp.htm--an application example (an html file),
          q.  systype.htm--list of partition types recognized by getmbr.com
              and restmbr.com, and
          r.  gif images used by mbrapp.htm.
          s.  generic.prm-- parameter file for generic.mbr

3.  Copy files a-i above to the boot floppy.  If you wish to remove an
       IDE (i.e., IDE, EIDE, ATA) disk manager utility (e.g., OnTrack Disk
       Manager, EZ-Drive, etc.), then also copy files j-m to the boot floppy.
       If you get an error message when running getmbr.com or restmbr.com
       saying, "Do not run this program in protected mode" it means that you:

          a.  are running the program from a DOS session of a protected-
              mode operating system such as Windows or OS/2, or
          b.  you have loaded a protected mode utility, such as EMM386.EXE
              when running DOS.

       For best results, copy config.sys and autoexec.bat files to backup
       files and then delete config.sys and autoexec.bat (or just REM out
       pertinent statements).

4.  Test getmbr.com.

          a.   Boot to the boot floppy.
          b.   Type "getmbr filename" (omit quotes), where filename is the name
               you choose for the MBR file to be stored on the boot floppy.
          c.   After the file has been successfully stored, type "list
               filename".  When the file comes up on the screen, hit
               alt-h to display the hex values.  For a DOS-compatable MBR,
               you may see cryptic messages on the right, such as "nvalid
               partition Setup cannot continue..." or "Invalid partition
               table Error loading..." Scroll down to the bottom of the file.
               Over at the bottom right you should see "55AA" which is the
               MBR signature word.  If you do not see the "55AA" (remember
               in hex mode), please stop using the programs and report the
               problem to:  sysop@allthatcounts.com.
          d.   Restoring the MBR to a hard disk consists in typing "restmbr
               filename".

5.  Tips:

          a.   WARNING!  The MBR file you save is like a photograph of the
               hard disk as it existed at the time you saved the file.  You
               cannot move, delete, or resize partitions after you have
               saved an MBR file and expect the computer to work properly
               after the MBR file is restored.
          b.   You must run getmbr.com from a floppy.  This is for your
               protection:  if your MBR is trashed you cannot use the
               hard disk to run restmbr.com to recover the MBR. You can
               run the text-only versions from a hard disk, however.
          c.   Give a descriptive name to the MBR file, such as "prelin.mbr" for
               an MBR existing before a Linux installation, or "lilo.mbr", etc.
               If you have two hard disks, for example the first one a Western
               Digital and the second a Quantum, you might name the first
               "wd.mbr" and the second "quantum.mbr".
          d.   Do not use long file names for the MBR files.  This is a DOS
               program that requires filenames to be in the 8.3 format.
          e.   If you are running Linux, consider avoiding the use of LILO.
               Use loadlin.exe to boot Linux from a DOS or W95 partition or
               DOS floppy.  Loadlin.exe comes with Slackware (I don't know
               about other distributions).
          f.   A note on the display portion of the getmbr.com and restmbr.com:
               these programs do not use any BIOS extensions for accessing
               more than 1024 BIOS cylinders.  Therefore, the 1024 cylinder
               limit means disk information located beyond this limit may not
               be displayed properly on the bar on the screen.  This only
               affects the display--it has nothing to do with saving and
               restoring MBRs.  Note also that "BIOS cylinders" is not the
               same as physical cylinders;  you may have 2000 physical
               cylinders but due to translation they are converted to 1024
               or fewer according to the BIOS (the virtual head count and/or
               the virtual sector count is increased to do this).  If you
               exceed this limit, free space beyond the last partition may
               not be visible in the display.
          g.   Note that megs shown are binary-based: 1k = 1024 bytes,
               1 megabyte is 1024x1024 = 1048576 bytes, etc.
          h.   If your BIOS supports a boot sector virus warning, this may
               interfere with restmbr.com which writes to the MBR.  You may
               have to disable this feature to use the program.
          i.   If you use restmbr.com to restore the generic.mbr, ignore
               the megabyte figure shown, as it is a dummy figure.

7.  Partition Types.

          a.   The included html file, systype.htm, shows which partition
               types getmbr and restmbr recognize.
          b.   The system i.d. is stored in one byte in the MBR.  There are
               therefore 255 possible partition types (00 is reserved for
               "no partition defined").  Unfortunately, the partitions are
               not unambiguously defined.  For example, system i.d.= 07
               reportedly may be HPFS, NTFS, Unix or QNX.  I guess you can
               blame IBM for not taking control of the situation.  Anyway,
               I do not go out to the partition boot records to try to
               identify them, so that multiple partition types may be
               listed by getmbr and restmbr.  I have tried to put the most
               likely types first.

8.  Version History:

          a.   Version 1.00 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com released 7/4/1999.

          b.   Version 1.10 released 8/24/1999.

                1.  recognize more partition types, and
                2.  minor rearrangement of the code.

          c.   Version 2.00 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com released 5/9/2000.

                1.  added graphical displays of the MBRs and MBR files,
                2.  screen views of up to 4 hard drive MBRs, and
                3.  getmbr.com stores a small parameter file (*.prm) for
                    display purposes.

          d.   Version 2.01 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com released 6/17/2000.

                1.  fixed a divide overflow problem; many thanks to
                    Asha Pesswani for pointing out this problem, and
                2.  no other changes.

          e.   Version 2.02 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com released 6/28/2000.

                1.  fixed another source of divide overflow, and
                2.  no other changes.

          f.   Version 2.03 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com released 7/1/2000.

                1.  required getmbr.com and restmbr.com to be run from a
                    floppy,
                2.  disabled protected mode operation of the programs (e.g.,
                    running the programs from a DOS shell of W95, OS/2, etc.),
                3.  required text-only versions of getmbr.com and restmbr.com
                    to be on the floppy, and
                4.  created color display error trap.

          g.   Version 2.04 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com released 7/2/2000.

                1.  fixed another source of divide overflow, and
                2.  can display partition data beyond 8 gigabytes (but not
                    ending free space).

          h.   Version 1.20 of the text-only versions released 10/14/2000.

                1.  added more partition types, and
                2.  no other changes.

          i.   Version 2.10 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com released 10/14/2000.

                1.  added more partition types, and
                2.  changed the display to show more partition data.

          j.   Version 2.11 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com released 10/21/2000.

                1.  modified the protection mode error message in getmbr.com
                    and restmbr.com to refer to this README file, and
                2.  added section in the README file about effects of using
                    protected mode utilities in DOS (thanks to Carlos Bachmaier
                    for pointing out this problem).

          k.   Version 2.12 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com released 10/27/2000.

                1.  fixed trivial stuff in the README file and error messages,
                    and
                2.  no other changes.

          l.   There is no version 2.13 :)

          m.   Version 2.14 of getmbr.com and restmbr.com and version 1.21
               of the text-only programs released 5/2/2001.

                1.  changed contact email address, and
                2.  no other changes.

          n.   Version 3.00 of of getmbr.com and restmbr.com and version
               1.00 of ncget.com, ncrest.com, ideget.com, iderest.com, and
               removedm.com released 7/16/2001.

                1.  getmbr.com and restmbr.com:  perform display math
                    initially to abort on problem before display starts;
                    pointed to ncrest.com and ncget.com if display problems
                    arise; fixed minor display problem; and added more
                    partition types,
                2.  added ncget.com and ncrest.com,
                3.  added ideget.com, iderest.com, removedm.com, and
                4.  added warmboot.com and attr.com utilities (I did not
                    write these utilities or list.com).

          o.   Version 3.01 released 7/22/2001.

                1.  fixed minor errors in readme files, and
                2.  no other changes.

          p.   Version 3.02 released 10/30/2001.

                1.  added generic.prm file, and
                2.  no other changes

