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Apparently the MBR is a 512 Byte data structure.

  • 446 bytes for the BootCode.
  • 64 bytes for The Partition Table
  • 2 bytes for the signature a the very end.

The Partition Table structure has four entries of 16 bytes each used to identify the type and location of partitions on a hard disk.

According to Microsoft

The first element of the partition table, the Boot Indicator field, indicates whether or not the volume is the active partition. Only one primary partition on the disk can have this field set.

Partition 1\ 0x01BE(446)

Partition 2\ 0x01CE(462)

Partition 3\ 0x01DE(478)

Partition 4\ 0x01EE(494)

As the Partition Table's four entries of 16 bytes each completely use up all available 64 bytes of space, how can there be any room left for the Boot Indicator Field?

Is the Boot Indicator Field crammed into whichever partition is active entry field space?(I cant imagine a regex operation to sniff out the Boot Indicator Field being ran for each entry...)

Perhaps I am visualizing this wrong but something seems illegal?

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Jimbo'sGun's
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  • That article is somewhat poorly written. It switches part-way between from using "partition table" to mean the entire table to using "partition table" to mean a specific entry in the partition table. (It's a bit clearer when you read the entire thing, but less than ideal.) The Boot Indicator field is the first byte of each entry. See [Master Boot Record](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record) on Wikipedia. – Harry Johnston Jul 16 '16 at 00:58
  • @HarryJohnston Thanks for answering my question, as for the ambiguity I thought I was sure to state Table entries. I have re-read and can't see the mishap you are describing. – Jimbo'sGun's Jul 16 '16 at 02:01
  • I meant that the Microsoft article you link to is poorly written, and that's why you were confused. There's nothing wrong with your question. – Harry Johnston Jul 17 '16 at 01:25

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