System partition and boot partition: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:21, 6 February 2016

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'''System partition''' and '''boot partition''' are the [[computing]] terms for the [[disk partition]] of a [[hard disk drive]] within a [[Personal Computer|PC]], that must exist and be configured for some [[Operating System]] (OS) to function correctly. An accepted definition for these terms refers to the [[firmware]] disk partition on a PC's disk drive, that managesholds the '''Boot Loader's''' ___location and grants selection access to the available operating systems on the PC to be used and managed. Typically, This firmware disk partition is intended to hold a single Operating System's '''boot code''' and controls the PC's system with it, and is necessary for certain [[proprietary software|proprietary]] or personalized computer system. Some system partitions and boot partitions are ''hidden'', or assigned without a drive letter.

==Personalized Operation==

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*The ''system partition'' is the disk partition that contains the operating system folder, known as ''system root''. By default, in Linux, operating system files are mounted at <code>/</code> (the [[root directory]]).

In Linux systems, a system partition and boot partition can be held within thean operating system's main hard disk space, without requiring a separate disk entity; or they can also occupy a single, non-primary disk partition together, if both <code>/boot/</code> and root directory are in the same partition. Or they can also occupy a single disk partition of their own, separately from each other.

==Proprietary Operation==

In the context of a computer with a proprietary operating system, such as Microsoft's [[Windows 7]] and beyond, it can be understood as following:

*The ''disk partition'' is generally created automatically during factory configuration (not to confuse with [[Windows 8]] computers' required firmware attachment of [[EFI]] or UEFI in lieu of a [[BIOS]]).

*The ''system partition'' is a partition that contains boot loaders, software responsible for booting one or more OS'.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Mitch|last1=Tulloch|first2=Ingrid|last2=Tulloch|title=Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking|year=2002|publisher=[[Microsoft Press]]|___location=Redmond, WA|isbn=0-7356-1378-8|page=1087|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref name=winternals5>{{cite book|last1=Russinovich|first1=Mark E|last2=Ionescu|first2=Alex|last3=Solomon|first3=David A|title=Windows Internals|year=2008|publisher=Microsoft Press|___location=Redmond, WA|isbn=0-7356-2530-1|page=970-1|edition=5th}}</ref>

*The ''boot partitions'' are the disk partition that contains the operating system folder, known as ''system root'' or <code>%systemroot%</code> in [[Windows NT]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Mitch|last1=Tulloch|first2=Ingrid|last2=Tulloch|title=Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking|year=2002|publisher=[[Microsoft Press]]|___location=Redmond, WA|isbn=0-7356-1378-8|page=174|edition=2nd}}</ref>

A single partition may be both a system and a boot partition. In case they are separate, however, the boot partition does not contain the boot software and the system partition does not have the system root.<ref name=winternals5 />{{rp|971}}

Before [[Windows 7]], the system and boot partitions were, by default, the same and were given the identifier "C:". After Windows 7, however, [[Windows Setup]] creates, by default, a separate system partition that is not given an identifier and therefore is hidden. The boot partition is still given "C:" as its identifier. This configuration is suitable for running [[BitLocker]], which requires a separate, unencrypted system partition for [[booting]].