shadow protect restore

when using SP to restore what options do people use ?

(1) Restore MBR. It seems that this is only necessary when restoring a drive as opposed to a partition ? or when the MBR is damaged ?
(2) Restore disk signature. Not necessary for windows Xp
(3) Restore disk hidden track. If boots without problem then not needed ?

any comments ?

 

I only click on the "restore MBR" when I do the restore (boot partition) I am not really sure why I do that, it just seems appropriate
I let everything else be default. Not a single restore has failed.

 

1- If you multi-boot (Windows, Linux, xBSD, Solaris, etc), if you have RollbackEX/Eaz-Fix or other software which modifies the standard MBR or if you suspect a MBR virus/rootkit, restoring the MBR becomes necessary.
2- IIRC, changing the disk signature might cause problems with software which require activation.
3- Not sure what disk hidden track means. I'd guess it means the first sectors (0 to 62). Important if you're using FD-ISR or other software which writes to the PBR.

 

But why he recommended so?

 

Yes I have seen before that grnxmn makes this recommendation - I would just be curious to know why ? I have tried all checked and none checked and for me it seems to make no difference.

 

So that the restore is the same as the original as ShadowProtect will always backup the MBR and hidden tracks .
Even if not always essential,at least you will know there wont be any problems,why would you leave out any part of the original?

 

Question is that: Does it matter if u were using just a standard MBR and no software, like Eaz-Fix or FDISR etc, when u imaged ur system? I think not( the usuall scenario with most users)?

Edit: As Peter posted above.

 

SP have advised it is essential to restore these options when backing up Rx,so FDISR would equally apply.

 

In general we restore to same disk over and again,to tick or untick makes in my experience no diffrence,only as per recommendation from Grnxrn if you restore to a different disk,untick restore disk signature,seems obvious because disk signatures should be different.

 

What if u retore disk signatures here too?

 

" Restore MBR - Restore the master boot record. The master boot record is contained in the first sector of the first physical hard drive. The MBR consists of a master boot program and a partition table that describes the disk partitions. The master boot program looks at the partition table to see which primary partition is active. It then starts the boot program from the boot sector of the active partition. You can restore the MBR from the image file that was saved with the backup image or you can restore an original Windows MBR.

§ Restore disk signature - Restores the original physical disk signature of the hard drive. Disk signatures are included in Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition (SP3 and later) and are necessary before the hard drive can be used.

§ Restore Disk Hidden Track - this will restore the first 63 sectors of a drive. Some boot loader applications require this for the system to boot."

SP Help file

 

Good question . What is the disk signature of a disk ?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932465

 

Seem no reason to do so on XP, acc to this:

And Eric even likes to zero his HD before restore. What about that?

Some may even prefer to flash their BIOS as well.

I think all of us have our own prerences or paranoia.

 

But I am so concerned about malware and corruption,that I intend to buy a new HDD for any new restores
edit-not referring to any post here

 

i guess it all boils down to the GUID number[name]of that particular disk,if the GUID number is different in case you restore to a different disk,then windows find it incompatible so a restore will fail.Hence advice from developper to untick restore disk signature in this case.

But must admit its only an educated guess !??!

 

Once after recovering from malware,i build a 40 layer security,i quit my job to have the time to constantly monitoring my security setup. ha ha

 

lol

And all new hardware as well. Don,t forget fiction rootkits of System Junkie.