Note: This boot sector should not be confused with the Master Boot Record (MBR) on a hard disk. When a hard disk is formatted (FORMAT command) a boot sector, similar to that on a floppy diskette, is also created. See the Microsoft Knowledgebase article on this for more details. If you copy the files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, and BOOT.INI from your XP hard drive to an XP-formatted floppy disk this disk can then be used as an emergency boot disk should the hard disk boot files become damaged. Under XP not only is there a little program but that program also looks for the NTLDR file which can then point to a boot device. When a floppy disk is formatted as a non-system disk under Windows XP it behaves similarly but its boot sector structure is different… If you leave an infected floppy in your PC when you power on or boot, you will be infected even though the PC won’t successfully boot from that floppy. Warning: Even a non-bootable floppy can contain a virus in the boot sector. This sector is rewritten whenever you do a “SYS” or a “FORMAT /S” to a disk. Damage to this sector can make your disk appear to be unreadable. Since the DOS boot sector is executed every time you power on or boot your PC, it is very vulnerable to virus attack. Bootable CD-ROMs, if infected by whomever wrote out the disc, could also be the source of an infection. Other removable devices have DOS boot sectors that are defined by the format utility for that device. This special sector is numbered 0,0 and is called the Boot Sector.Ī hard disk also has a DOS boot sector, but it’s located in a different sector on the hard disk (see note below). storing a short program that either puts a message on the screen saying the disk cannot be used to start the computer if it’s a data disk, or a short program that starts to load the operating system if it’s a system disk which can start the computer (boot disk).storing information about the disk, and. Even a non-bootable floppy can contain a virus in the boot sector.When a floppy diskette is formatted (it doesn’t matter if it’s a system or data disk) the very first portion of the disk is set aside for two main purposes:
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