Howard wrote:
> Thanks for your reply
>
> However, neither Windows Disk Management or Partition Magic is capable of
> erasing a partition completely
>
> It seems like the only erasing activity that Windows Disk Management does is
> simply to erase the Master File Table
>
> Partition Magic "Delete and Secure Erase" option does more - certainly takes
> a lot longer - but it does not remove Windows Boot Sector code when the
> selected partition to be deleted / erased was a Windows XP partition
>
> Here is one way you can test to see if an application / tool is capable of
> erasing a Windows Boot Sector code
>
> Take a fully erased hard drive (written to zero's) using an appropriate DOS
> application / tool and partition the hard drive into four (4) primary visable
> NTFS partitions using Partition Magic (DOS)
>
> Boot into each partition by changing which drive is Active - use Partition
> Magic to change the Active partition
>
> On each boot, you will probably only get a blinking cursor - no error message
>
> Next, insert your Windows XP installation disk and use said disk to boot
> into "Windows Recovery Console"
>
> Use the "FIXBOOT" command and write Windows Boot Sector code to all four
> partitions
>
> Reboot the computer into all four partitions using Partition Magic DOS to
> change the Active partitions
>
> You will now get the following error message on each boot
>
> "NTLDR is missing
> Press CTRL + ALT + DEL to restart"
>
> Next, use your Windows XP installation disk and install Windows XP on the
> first primary partition
>
> From the first partition, if you attempt to delete one of the other three
> partitions using Windows Disk Management and then recreate the same partition
> using same Windows Disk Management and then boot into said deleted /
> recreated partition by using Partition Magic DOS to change the Active
> partition, you will get the same error message which means that the Boot
> Sector code was not erased during said deletion activity
>
> Note: Windows Disk Management does not write a so called complete Windows
> Boot Sector code to a partition when it formats a partition - A complete
> Windows Boot Sector code is actually more than one sector -
>
> You can test this by doing the same setup
>
> Create four fully erased primary partitions
>
> Install Windows XP in the first partition
>
> Use Windows Disk Management to format the other three partitions
>
> Boot into each partition, using Partition Magic DOS to change the Active
> partition
>
> You will not get the previous mentioned error message
>
> "NTLDR is missing
> Press CTRL + ALT + DEL to restart"
>
> which means that Windows Boot Sector code was not written to said partitions
> during Windows Disk Management formatting process
>
> All of the above is also true if you attempt to use Partition Magic (Windows
> or DOS version) to delete / erase a Windows XP partition - it doesn't erase
> the Boot Sector code
>

There is but one MBR per physical disk. Each partition does not contain
its own MBR, rather the one MBR for the disk contains the data about the
partitions. Perhaps you might want to look into something like MBRWork:

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

Steve N.