Clearing hard disk's MBS

[Mike McCarty]

Aaron Konstam wrote:
> On Thu, 2006-08-10 at 16:01 -0500, Mike McCarty wrote:
> 
>>Aaron Konstam wrote:
>>
>>>Actually the boot record is only the first 446 bytes of sector 0.
>>>The rest of the sector is the partition table.
>>
>>Why do people continually post this incorrect information. The
>>PT is *part* of the MBR, which is 512 bytes. The MBR has three
>>parts:
>>	code
>>	partition table
>>	marker
>>
>>Mike
> 
> How can I say this? You are right but your informatiion is irrelevant.
> Most people wand to change the boot blocks and keep the Partition table.
> Replacing all 512 bytes will  destroy the partition table and make the
> machine useless.

No, what I wrote is very relevant. If you are afraid that the OP might
have mis-stated his question, then the proper response would be one
which asks the OP what his goals are, like this:

If you really want to clear the entire MBS (usually called MBR) then
you do it in this wise: ...
However, this will wipe out all parts of the MBR, including the PT
and the end-marker, with the possible consequences that...

If you want to preserve the PT information, then do it in this wise...

That way, the OP knows what the possible consequences of each of the
techniques would be, and can select the one appropriate to his
circumstance. He may *want* to wipe the PT portion of the MBR.

It is *inappropriate* to answer someone who is asking a question
which is somewhat ambiguous with a simple answer of "do this".

It is *doubly* inappropriate to "correct" an answer in the manner
I saw. If the "corrector" really had serious doubt that the answer
as given was the one the OP needed, then what I wrote above is
doubly important.

It is the OP who stands to lose. It is the OP who must make the
decision and take the action. It is the responder who should
be careful to give information which is accurate and complete
enough for the OP/questioner to make his decision.

Otherwise, the responder would have done much better to keep
quiet. By speaking up, one makes oneself open to being
responsible for someone else causing expensive damage to
the state of his disc.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!