If Macrovision writes to track 0, won that mess up security software, partition tools, and other disk utilities?
Yes and no. A simple high-level format (Format C: /s) will not affect IDs stored in track 0, but a low-level format (or repartitioning) will. Utilities such as Norton Ghost can be used to back up a disk or partition to an image and restore the data with activation intact. But restoring an image that was made before a product was activated will require reactivation. And while SafeCast will not step on another SafeCast installation, products using other activation schemes could be affected if they use the same location. In addition, security products that watch for changes to hard drives could be affected as well.
