Boot sector is a section of sector on a computer hard disk drive used for storing machine code that the computer’s BIOS executes when the operating system is booting up. It is also referred to as the system area. On IBM-compatible PCs, as well as most other kinds of personal computers, the master boot record (MBR) code is stored in the boot sector of the hard disk. The MBR contains the boot loader code and hard disk partition information.
The boot sector is usually a 512-byte area located at the beginning of the drive that includes instructions for the BIOS to run the operating system. The contents of the boot sector depend on the file system used. For example, Microsoft Windows uses the NTFS format, which stores the master boot record code in the boot sector.
A boot sector can also be used to store other information, such as a diagnostic program that can be used to troubleshoot a computer. Additionally, the boot sector can store the settings of drive parameters, including the cylinder, head and sector parameters used to access data stored in the drive. It can also contain jump instructions used to jump to another sector for further booting instructions. Additionally, boot sectors can be used by malicious software, such as viruses, to infect a disk drive.
The boot sector is an important area of the hard drive as it contains the instructions for the computer to start up. It is important to keep the boot sector free of errors, as the computer may not be able to boot up if the boot sector becomes corrupted. Additionally, if the information in the boot sector is no longer valid, the computer may not be able to access the data stored in the drive.
