Skip to main content

System partition and boot partition

System partition and boot partition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

System partition and boot partition are computing terms for disk partitions of a hard disk drive that must exist and be properly configured for a system to operate correctly. There are two different definitions for these terms: Microsoft definition (used by Windows) and the common definition used by every other operating system.

Common definition[edit]

In context of every operating system, save those developed by Microsoft Corporation, system partition and boot partition are defined as follows:
  • The boot partition is a primary partition that contains the boot loader, a piece of software responsible for booting the OS. For example, in the standard Linux directory layout (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard), boot files (such as the kernel, initrd, and boot loader GRUB) are mounted at /boot/.[1] Despite Microsoft's radically different definition (see below), System Information, a utility app included in Windows NT family of operating systems refers to it as "boot device".[2][3]
  • The system partition is the disk partition that contains the operating system folder, known as system root. By default, in Linux, operating system files are mounted at / (theroot directory).
In Linux, a single partition can be both a boot and a system partition if both /boot/ and root directory are in the same partition.

Microsoft definition[edit]

Since Windows NT 3.1[4] (the first version of Windows NT), Microsoft has defined the terms as follows:
  • The system partition is a primary partition that contains the boot loader, a piece of software responsible for booting the OS.[5] This partition holds the boot sector and is marked active.[6]:970
  • The boot partition is the disk partition that contains the operating system folder, known as system root or %systemroot% in Windows NT.[7]
A single partition may be both a system and a boot partition. In case they are separate, however, the boot partition does not contain the boot software and the system partition does not have the system root.[6]:971
Before Windows 7, the system and boot partitions were, by default, the same and were given the identifier "C:". After Windows 7, however, Windows Setup creates, by default, a separate system partition that is not given an identifier and therefore is hidden. The boot partition is still given "C:" as its identifier. This configuration is suitable for runningBitLocker, which requires a separate, unencrypted system partition for booting.

See also

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

QBasic and its history

QBasic Not to be confused with  Quick Basic . QBasic Paradigm Procedural Developer Microsoft First appeared 1991 ; 25 years ago OS MS-DOS ,  Windows 95 ,  Windows 98 ,  Windows Me ,  PC DOS ,  OS/2 , eComStation License Part of the operating system (a variety of  closed-source  licenses) Website www .microsoft .com Influenced by QuickBASIC ,  GW-BASIC Influenced QB64 ,  Small Basic QBasic  ( Microsoft  Quick Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code ) is an  IDE  and  interpreter  for a variety of the  BASIC programming language  which is based on  QuickBASIC . Code entered into the IDE is compiled to an intermediate representation , and this  IR  is immediately interpreted on demand within the IDE. [1]  It can run under nearly all versions of  DOS  and  Windows , or through  DOSBox / DOSEMU , on  Linux  and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Develop your website

Are you an enterpreneur and want a website to promote your buisness? If yes please choose your catogery so that you can feel easy. I need a attractive website i can invest required ammount I need a simple website and invest less Attractive website I can develop a website that explores everything of your buisness or profession you just need to bive me the detailed information of your buisness and i will evaluate it and decleare price if you agree to pay the work is started and will be completed within a month to 6 month as per expansivity of site  Simple Website I can also develop a simple website which will be informative source of your buisness and some speical features will be mentioned in site Note i will also give you a cms comment if you are intrested
1 comment
Read more

10 ways to earn money from website

If you dont know how to make a website click here for free guidelines When you are running your own site and finally start to see some serious traffic, you’ll probably want to earn some money from it. In this article we’ll look at 10 of the most popular ways to make money from your site. In each section I’ll list the big players in that specific field, but there are many more opportunities available–Google is your friend. You’ll find that you can mix and match many of these methods. Just be careful that you don’t overcrowd your site with ads. And of course you’ll need to test to find out what works best for your site. Let’s get started. 1. Cost-per-Click Ads Displaying banners based on a cost-per-click basis is the easiest way to make money with a site. Usually it’s just a matter of creating the ad banners and placing them in visible places and within the guidelines. You then get paid for each click on the ads. CPC ads come in many forms, from the traditional 468×60 ba...
2 comments
Read more