What Is Needed for a Partition to Be Bootable?
Partitioning hard drives allows users to separate different sections of a hard drive for different uses. A partition can store data separate from an operating system, in case the operating system needs to be updated or re-installed. Furthermore, partitions allows different operating systems to coexist on the same hard drive, so each can be loaded when the computer starts. In order to do this, partitions must be "bootable," so the computer knows how to load the operating system information for that partition.
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Partitions
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Advanced users will often divide their hard disk space into "partitions." So, one partition might contain a Linux file system, while another will contain a Windows file system. Most importantly, these partitions will not overlap, because they are managed by a Master Boot Record that specifies where one partition ends and another begins. All data stored on one partition is inaccessible on another, unless that partition is "mounted" as a readable partition on an operating system in another partition.
Master Boot Record
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The Master Boot Record holds all the information for the partitions on the hard drive. The MBR begins in the first physical memory address on the hard drive, and is the first data the computer checks when determining how to boot the system. Partitions hold data and may or may not hold an operating system; some users create partitions solely to store files. The MBR holds the records for what partitions exist and where they are located, and what systems are bootable by the computer.
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Designating Bootable
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System administrators can designated a partition as "bootable" when they modify partitions in a partition creator, such as Gparted or cfdisk. This bootable flag means that the computer can read from the partition and load an operating system from that information. Not all partitions can be bootable. Typically only primary, non-Logical Volume Manager partitions are eligible for booting. However, a bootable partition will be the "jumping off" point for other booting options, such as loading other operating systems.
Boot Sector
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The boot sector of a bootable partition contains all the information required to boot the operating system. For example, installing a Linux partition means having a boot sector containing a small program such as GRUB or LILO that handle booting the system. If partitions containing other operating systems exist, then the boot sector of the bootable partition will contain this information, and often allow the user to choose which partition to start. Installing an bootloader such as GRUB, or editing the Windows 7 bootloader with the built-in BCDEdit editor, is required to boot multiple operating systems from a bootable partition.
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