Master Boot Record

Name of the very first sector on a hard disk drive. Is where the partition table is stored.

MBR is read by BIOS, which decodes the partition table and then loads a program called "bootstrap" from the boot sector of the partition that will boot; this program is responsible for loading the operating system.

The MBR and the partition table use only one sector for the first hard disk drive track. The other sectors remain available and are not used. Some virus, called boot virus, store themselves on these empty sectors.

Floppy disks, Zip-disks and CD-ROMs don't have MBR or partition table. These features only exist on hard disk drives.

Originally at http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/dictionary/term/202

---

© 2004-10, Hardware Secrets, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Total or partial reproduction of the contents of this site, as well as that of the texts available for downloading, be this in the electronic media, in print, or any other form of distribution, is expressly forbidden. Those who do not comply with these copyright laws will be indicted and punished according to the International Copyrights Law.

We do not take responsibility for material damage of any kind caused by the use of information contained in Hardware Secrets.