Many destructive viruses damage the Master Boot Record (MBR). A damaged Master Boot Record means that the operating systems cannot be loaded and make it impossible to start the computer from the hard disk. If you wonder how to backup and restore the MBR, an easy solution could be found in a freeware tool called MBRfix. MBRFix is a command line tool for Windows and has many advancedd commands that allow to repair, backup, restore and manage MBR. From sysint.no website: Perform several Master Boot Record (MBR) tasks, like backing up, restoring, fixing the boot code in the MBR, etc. Requirements: Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows PE. Both 32-bit and 64-bit x64 editions are supported. Commands: MbrFix /drive <num> driveinfo Display drive information MbrFix /drive <num> drivesize Returns drive size in MB as return value MbrFix /drive <num> listpartitions Display partition information MbrFix /drive <num> savembr <file> Save MBR and partitions to file MbrFix /drive <num> restorembr <file> Restore MBR and partitions from file MbrFix /drive <num> fixmbr {/vista|/win7} Update MBR code to W2K/XP/2003, Vista or Win7 MbrFix /drive <num> clean Delete all partitions on the selected disk MbrFix /drive <num> readsignature {/byte} Read disk signature from MBR MbrFix /drive <num> writesignature <hex> Write disk signature to MBR MbrFix /drive <num> generatesignature Generate disk signature in MBR MbrFix /drive <num> readstate Read state from byte 0x1b2 in MBR MbrFix /drive <num> writestate <state> Write state to byte 0x1b2 in MBR MbrFix /drive <num> readdrive <startsector> <sectorcount> <file> Save sectors from drive to file MbrFix /drive <num> /partition <part> fixbootsector <os> Update Boot code in boot sector MbrFix /drive <num> /partition <part> getpartitiontype Get partition type MbrFix /drive <num> /partition <part> setpartitiontype <typenum> Set partition type MbrFix /drive <num> /partition <part> setactivepartition Set active partition MbrFix /drive <num> getactivepartition Get active partition MbrFix volumeinformation driveletter Get volume information for partition MbrFix flush {driveletter(s)} Flush files to disk for partition MbrFix listpartitiontypes List partition types Link : MbrFix