When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn What Does Boot Sector Mean?
A boot sector is a reserved sector of a disk or storage device that contains the necessary data or code used to complete the boot process of a computer or disk.
A boot sector is also known as a boot block.
Techopedia Explains Boot Sector
A boot sector stores boot record data that gives instructions to a computer when it is started. There are two different types of boot sectors:
- Master boot record (MBR)
- Volume boot record (VBR)
For a partitioned disk, the boot sector consists of a master boot record. A non-partitioned disk consists of a volume boot record. The boot sector usually has boot sequence information, such as a list of disk partitions, startup program location or operating system (OS). When a computer is started, the data/program in the boot sector is loaded into the computer memory. This data may include the OS or any other startup program.
The boot sector is generally located at the start of a disk for rapid computer access.
