

When the developers designed the size of thismaster partition table, they left just enough room for the description of four partitions, hence the four partition (four physical partitions) limit. Master Partition Table: This small bit of code that is referred to as a table contains a complete description of the partitions that are contained on the hard disk. The master boot record contains the following structures. When a computer starts and the BIOS boots the machine, itwill always look at this first sector for instructions and information on how to proceed with the boot process and load the operating system. This is the consistent starting point that the disk will always use. Do not confuse the master boot sector with, which are indeed different.The master boot record is always located at cylinder 0, head 0, and sector 1, the first sector on the disk.

The place where this information is stored is called the master boot record ( MBR), also referred to as the master boot sector or even just theboot sector. There also must be someplace where the BIOS can load theinitial boot program that starts the process of loading the operating system.

