The act of turning on a computer system and making its operating system to be loaded is called booting . The name comes from an image of the computer pulling itself up from its bootstraps, but the act itself slightly more realistic. During bootstrapping the computer first loads a small piece of code called the bootstrap loader , which in turn loads and starts the operating system. The bootstrap loader is usually stored in a fixed location on a hard disk or a floppy.
Different computers do the bootstrapping differently.
The bootstrap loader is contained withing this sector. The details of this part will be discussed below.