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DrStalker
Asked: 2012-08-21 21:11:12 +0800 CST

Remove MBR from USB flash drive using Windows

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I have a USB key that was previously set up as a bootable key (clonezilla)

Because of this there is an MBR on the key that will try (and fail) to boot off the key if it is left in a system. Deleting/formatting partitions won't change this.

On Linux I could use dd to overwrite the first few MB of the key and then repartition it, what is the equivalent way to do this on Windows? (destroying all data on the key is fine)

boot-loader

3 Answers

  1. diskpart
list disk
select disk X
clean

    (X = The number of the disk)

    Go to Disk Management and create a new partition on the disk, it should then work as normal again.

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  2. Best Answer
     diskpart
 list disk
 select disk X
 list partition
 select partition Y
 inactive
    • X = the number (not letter) of your USB disk, as indicated by the list disk command.
    • Y = the number (not letter) of the bootble partition, as indicated by the list partition command
    • 5

  3. For a GUI version Download HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool 2.2.3 http://www.techspot.com/downloads/6582-hp-usb-disk-storage-format-tool.html Run the exe as Administrator

    1. Select the USB device.
    2. Select the desired file system.
    3. Format.
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