Can a Master Boot Record become "partially" corrupt when you clone a hard drive?

[Petros_k]

Q: If there's an error with the Master Boot Record (MBR) or boot code on my hard drive, can Windows 7 still load in some cases?

The reason I ask:

I successfully cloned my original hard drive to a new hard drive. Not long after, something went wrong with my original hard drive (I accidentally marked the wrong partition as "active" and could no longer boot) and I decided to fix it by cloning the NEW hard drive back to the original (assuming the new hard drive had the same exact data, including MBR and boot loader). When I did this, I had to edit the MBR with EasyBCD to add the new hard drive as a boot option at the boot menu at startup. Note that I can successfully boot from either hard drive and all appears to work properly. However, is it possible that my cloning procedure created something like a "partially" corrupt MBR on the original hard drive that may lead to problems down the road? Should I run the Windows 7 Repair Disc and use the recovery tools to fix the MBR (even if it isn't broken)?

---------- Post added at 03:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------

I should have included this:

---------- Post added at 11:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:29 PM ----------

Is it true that EasyBCD only writes one portion of the boot chain below needed right before the OS:

MBR --> PBR of Active Partition --> "BOOTMGR" --> "Boot\ BCD" --> "System32\Winload.exe"

 

[Terry60]

The "standard" features of EasyBCD just change the contents of the BCD, i.e. add a new entry, modify or remove an existing entry.
The MBR, PBR and the MS boot manager and loader are untouched.
There are advanced options which can back-level the boot manager and PBR to XP level, or restore it if you accidentally back-leveled it with a careless XP or Linux installation, but those are not options to be tinkered or experimented with unless you a) absolutely need to, and b) appreciate exactly what you are about to do.

"If it ain't broke ........"

 

[qixinsan]

You also post the thread on bleepingcomputer?
Hi, the answer of your title question is can't.
When comes to clone, I usually use the freeware Aomei Backupper,
But I think in the thread, The point is rebuild MBR. You can try Aomei Partition Assistant because of its "Rebuild MBR". also free.
Good luck


The other members have said it well. I'm a routine cloner and full-disk Imager and have not yet encountered a non-bootable Target HHD or full-HDD Image restore test.

I use 3 tools to clone but mainly use Acronis (2011) since, for some reason, it's the fastest cloning tool of the 3 that I use.

- Acronis
- Macrium Reflect (free ver)
- Clonezilla

I'm not sure when Macrium and Clonezilla copy the MBR to the Target device but Acronis apparently does that at the end of the cloning process. I'll see a message that says "Copying MBR..." just before the cloning process completes.


I am of the opinion that if the MBR was corrupted it would not work at all. The information contained in the partition is very specific and critical to the function of the machine, and even partial corruption would lead to OS startup failure.

I think you're good to go