Change MBR on HDD to...

The.King

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Hi all,

Probably a daft question here, but I need to "completely wipe" an old 2TB HDD that was previous an MBR for Win7. I'm now looking to use it in a DVR for CCTV (to replace a fried HDD) but it can't be an MBR or GPT.

I checked the old drive first and it's "status" was 'Not Initialized'
It's "partition Style" was 'Not Applicable'.

So while I know how to change an MBR to a GPT etc. via 'Disk Management', how can I change a completely formatted MBR to "Not Initialized"??

Would appreciate any insight. Many thanks.
 
Does the DVR need it to be as RAW? Formatting it in some way will make it either GPT or MBR for partition table.

You can use something like a GParted LiveCD and delete all partitions so it's all unallocated space, and then delete the partition table so it's RAW.
 
Thanks for the reply. I don't know if GParted LiveCD is required or not as there are no partitions on the HDD at all. When I right click My Computer -> Manage -> under Disk Manager, it shows that the disk is "Basic", "Online", but "Unallocated".

I attached a jpeg URL, but it needs to be cleared by a mod before my post is visible and I'm stuck for time.

It probably does need to be RAW, but how can I make the HDD Raw? Do I need to do a long & laborious 'Active kill Disk' on it or something?

Thanks.
 
Unallocated means that there's nothing on the disk, lacks any type of file table. = same as raw. I replaced a drive for a cctv system last year, if you can get a guide for this DVR read it. The DVR that I set up auto-formatted the drive to it's own file table. Can't say what the file table was cuz they never mentioned it in the set up guide. I suspect it was a proprietary *nix file table.
 
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Unallocated means that there's nothing on the disk, lacks any type of file table. = same as raw.

Yeah but after I had the new drive formatted, I placed it in the DVR and (like you) the DVR auto formatted the drive anyway - but I still can't see any cameras and the DVR lists "no disk found"???

I took the new HDD back out, stuck it into my PC, checked it out and it still reads as MBR. As I've already stated in the OP, the original HDD in the DVR said "uninitialized" - it wasn't MBR.

I have the manual for the DVR, but it says nothing about replacing the HDD in any of the pages cover-to-cover??

Currently running 'activ kill disk' on the new HDD, so we'll see what results I get in a few hours when it's done.
 
You should still be able to have the camera's working without the hard drive? The Speco system I worked on only used the hdd to record video. The video still worked without a hdd installed.
What is the name brand and model number of this dvr system?
What kind of cam's are you using?
 
A security DVR needs to have a Red or Purple drive meaning it's made for the aggressive nature of the recording system. A normal drive that you use in your desktop system will have a short life span in a security DVR. Newegg has the Western Digital RED drives for a very reasonable price. They come out of the box ready to use. No formatting is required.

Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Newegg.com

Another thing about the cheapy security DVR is they are set to accept just a certain sized drive. If you put a larger drive some will just ignore it. You have to have the right size.
 
I don't want to get away from the main issue here.

We're focusing more on the cctv, cameras & dvr than we are to the OP of getting a HDD back to "uninitialized".

The DVR goes into fault without a HDD installed, that's the only reason why I can't see the cameras.

To answer the other question, I'm replacing like for like with the HDD. I don't just mean in size or brand, but even model numbers. (i.e. I purchased a spare HDD at the time of buying the system, so it's identical in every way, except for some reason the spare is MBR, whereas the original was uninitialized.

Any chance someone knows how to change a HDD from MBR to uninitialized????

Thanks.
 
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