Boot manager is a special program that is booted before any operating
system and allows the user to have multiple operating systems installed on
his computer and to choose the necessary one when the computer is booted.
For details on boot managers see 1.1 «Acronis OS Selector as a Boot
Manager».
Boot Menu. Acronis OS Selector Boot Menu is a program that is stored in the
BOOTWIZ\BOOTMENU.EXE file. It is actually a dialog box that appears when
the computer is booted and allows the user to choose the configuration of an
operating system that he wants to boot from a list.
Boot partition. A partition from which the initial stage of operating system
booting is done (boot sector is read and executed, first file of the operating
system is read and executed).
Boot record. The initial part of a partition that contains code and data
necessary for booting an operating system. May consist of one or several
sectors. First sector of a boot record must end with the boot sector signature
(0AA55h).
Boot sector is the first sector of a disk or a partition that contains the initial
code for the operation system booting. Boot sector must end with 0AA55h
signature.
Bootable disk is a disk from which an operating system may be booted. A
bootable disk must contain a boot sector of an operating system and the
necessary system and configuration files. The «Bootable disk» term usually
refers to diskettes and CD-ROMs.
Bootable partition. A partition that can host an operating system. In the
beginning of such a partition there should be a boot record.
Booting is a procedure that is executed every time a computer is turned on
or an operating system finishes its work or when the reset button is pressed.
Booting consists of the following stages:
• Hardware diagnostics;
• Memory check;
• Built-in BIOS initialization;
• Initialization of additional hardware components and their BIOSes
(video, SCSI etc.);
• Booting an operation system.
If a boot manager is installed on a computer, then it is booted instead of an
operating system. Then the boot manager boots the user-chosen operating
system itself.
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