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What do Different Partitions Mean

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by Coolpal39, 2009/08/07.

  1. 2009/08/07
    Coolpal39

    Coolpal39 Inactive Thread Starter

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    What is the difference between a partition marked as "Boot" and a partition that is marked as "System "?
     
  2. 2009/08/07
    surferdude2

    surferdude2 Inactive

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    Under normal circumstances, the System drive or partition is the C: drive. It contains the bootloader files.

    The Boot drive or partition can be any drive that contains an Operating System that is currently booted. It normally does not have the bootloader files.

    The System drive (partition) and the Boot drive (partition) are one and the same when booted to the C: drive.
     
    Last edited: 2009/08/07

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  4. 2009/08/09
    Coolpal39

    Coolpal39 Inactive Thread Starter

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    I had to reinstall windows. this machine has 5 hard drives connected to the mother board.
    the drive that shows as C: is a sata drive but was not the drive that has XP installed on it.
    XP had to be re-installed after a crash that I could not figure out how to fix.

    XP boot drive shows as E: and by the way its an IDE drive
    C: drive shows as a system drive in windows disk management

    Is there an easy way to fix this as I dont want any more problems?
     
  5. 2009/08/09
    markp62

    markp62 Geek Member Alumni

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    The system partition is where your bootloader is loaded from which then loads the operating system. The boot partition is where your operating system is located.
    I don't see anything needing fixing.
     
  6. 2009/08/10
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Have a look at this explanation from Microsoft: Definitions for system volume and boot volume

     
    Arie,
    #5

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