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The first 512 bytes on a hard drive -- aka Logical Sector Zero -- contain the Master Boot Record (MBR).
The MBR contains the boot code and the partition table.
The partition table identifies the file system on the partitions on the disk; there must be at least one.
The boot code processes the partition table to identity which partition is bootable; control then transfers to the first sector, called the boot sector, of the active partition (there can be only one). The boot sector is operating system-specific.
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