Returnil 2008 vs MBR Protection

[Tom AZ]

Just wondering if Returnil 2008 PE offers MBR protection?

[Alan_B]

My best guess is NO.

 

Macrium Reflect images entire partitions and will restore them perfectly after any malware incursion.

ADDITIONALLY it makes a copy of the MBR, without which a computer is unbootable.

 

I assume Returnil is exclusively focused upon what happens under Windows and any other partitions it is responsible for.

 

There are probably freeware tools that will make a backup of your MBR,

and Minitool Partition Wizard can "Repair" a damaged MBR to allow Windows to boot again

 

You may get further advice from

http://www.wildersse...splay.php?f=100

which I see already has some-one with your username

 

Alan

[hazelnut]

There is a free tool here that backs up the MBR

 

http://www.trojanhunter.com/products/mbr-backup/

[Tom AZ]

There is a free tool here that backs up the MBR

 

http://www.trojanhun...cts/mbr-backup/

Just checked this out, Hazel. It says you can either save the MBR as a file -- or print out a copy, which they seem to think is the best method.

 

What I don't understand is if your MBR goes south, what good is a printout -- what do you do with it?

[Alan_B]

A file backup of the MBR is useless if you hold the file on the disk that has a broken MBR

A paper-print-out backup survives any disk damage - but it cannot survive a rampaging wife on a spring clean

 

I would say that the advice on the TrojanHunter site is useless.

The sane technique is to hold the backup file on a Flash drive which also needs to hold MBRBackup.exe.

The Flash Drive will then hold both the backup and the tool which can "Restore" the MBR backup to the correct place.

 

If I had to read from paper and type 512 pairs of hexadecimal characters into a disk sector editor it would drive me into insanity,

 

Personally I depend upon Macrium Reflect Image backups.

Easeus also has happy users.

Otherwise you need something more comprehensive than Returnil and a MBR backup.

Neither of these is likely to look after an extended partition table.

[Tom AZ]

Personally I depend upon Macrium Reflect Image backups.

Easeus also has happy users.

Otherwise you need something more comprehensive than Returnil and a MBR backup.

Neither of these is likely to look after an extended partition table.

Good advice, Alan. Actually, I have Macrium Reflect Image backups as well. Fortunately, I've never had to use them, so I don't really know how easy or difficult a restore is in the event that it would become necessary.

[Alan_B]

I use the 64 bit Server Edition, but I think all versions including the free / Trial variants have this ability :-

 

Under "Other Tasks" => "Edit Defaults" => "Restore" => "Master Boot Record"

You can check whether or not to replace the MBR from the backup.

 

The default is initially to replace from the Backup.