If there are several OSes in a computer, how does the bootstrap program know which one to load? Is it the same in a Mac?
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The BIOS is hard-coded to load the first 512 bytes of Hard Disk 0 into memory and run the code at byte offset 0. That code will typically load the first some bytes of the active partition on the same disk. The code in the partition bootsector will then locate and run a boot file from somewhere on the disk. | |||
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The bootstrap loader always sits in the first sector of the hard disk, and that's where the BIOS will try to load. Said bootstrap loader usually consists of instructions that amount to "Load a bigger bootloader including a table of entry points for various operating systems from these sectors." | |||||
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