Master Boot Record (MBR)

The master boot record is the first physical block on the disk. (Note: The terms "block", "record", and "sector" are often used interchangebly to describe the smallest addressable unit of a disk drive.) Since the MBR is only one record, or sector, long it is severely limited in what it can contain. Typcially a sector holds 512 bytes.

Here is a formatted dump of the MBR on a Windows XT system.

The MBR contains three types of information.

Next: Partition Boot Record (PBR)

Return to main PC Boot Sequence page

Return to my writing page

Return to my home page