MBR - NTLDR - LILO - GRUB - BOOT SECTOR - WTF?!!

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Hi all,

Yeah I think the title really says it all! I have been reading some of the Linux questions on here and have got well confused establishing what each of the terms is and how they all fit!

I know NTLDR, LILO and GRUB are boot loaders in that they load the OS's but how big is the MBR and where is it, and whats the difference between it and the boot sector?!

 

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Sounds like you are starting to dig a bit. Ok, a few links are worth a thousand words. All of the titles below are clickable links and lead to valuable info. Hope this helps.

What is a Master Boot Record?

Another MBR definition

Boot Sector Overview

 

I'm not really satisfied with what I've posted so far but it's hard to find resources that define what you are asking for in straightforward terms, are detailed enough to be meaningful without becoming obscure. Here we go again:

Detailed Explanation of FAT Boot Sector

What are System Sectors?

Understanding and Working with the MBR

Hope some of this makes it clearer.

 

Yeah I am beginning to dig now!!

My Linux+ book arrived today also, and it is based on Fedora Core so I shall be downloading that also!

Thanks for the links!

 

Glad to help, Jellyman. Let us know how you get on and don't be afraid to ask questions. Also, I highly encourage you to take a stab at the Linux+ questions I've been posting in the Linux+ forum. It's not so much a matter of getting an answer right or wrong as it is a matter of doing the research and trying to figure it out. Also, you can get alot of mileage out of reading the ones that have already been answered and trying to figure out *why* the answers are correct.

I assume you'll be downloading and burning a copy of FC3 or 4 and installing it on a PC. It will *really* help once you can put your hands on a Linux box and start playing with it.

Good luck.

 

The book has screen shots of Fedora Core 2, and as I am running fairly old hardware it, I am going to go with that for now for the sake of simplicity/someone at work already has it in their draw!

It looks good and interesting at the moment!

And I shall try your q's v soon!

 

its useful to remember some of the important power words in the linux word, as it really helps with questions and finding answers

for instance

verbose
interactive
recursive


these are generally turned into switches in many linux commands such as -r -v and -i
and generally do what they say on the tin

knowing the power words is useful because they generally carry on between programs, its just a general rule of thumb not an exact science, but it helps in the instances you need to use guess work and common sense instead of knowing the answer off the top of your head

 

Jellyman. I posted some stuff this morning in the linux+ board that might interest you too. Good luck with your studies.