How delete Master Boot Record ???

Question

I have installed as a 2nd hard drive, a drive which previously was a primary drive in a dual boot situation.

XP's Computer Management facility allows me to delete the data partitions of that drive. But it will not allow me to delete the 1st partition, the MBR. Right clicking on it yields only a "Help" command to a help screen which does not address the need.

How can I delete that MBR so I have a clean drive to format as a 2nd drive for data?

msgale · Answer

There is no need to delete the MBR in order to format the drive.

kfh777 · Answer

Thanks. I know I could format the unassigned space but I'm passing this machine on to my daughter and I want to avoid any future problems she might encounter if the mbr for the previous dual boot arrangement remains on the 2nd hd in the machine.

Simply put, I'd like a "clean" machine to pass on to her.

Ken

GreyMack · Answer

The MBR isn't in the first partition, it's in reserved space preceding all partitionable space. It may be the Dell Utility partition you're seeing, which Windows Disk Management may not fully recognize, perhaps intentionally. FDISK or Partition Magic could probably be used to delete it.

GM

Windows General

How delete Master Boot Record ???

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