Windows – Using GParted to copy Windows partition. Boot flag on Recovery partition

bootgpartedpartitioningwindowswindows 7

I am trying to understand how booting works with a Recovery partition. In the past when I have restored a Windows partition using GParted with a copy that I made earlier, I needed to use a Windows recovery disc to repair the partition because it would not boot.

Now I have done the same process again, except this time Windows boots immediately after with need to do a repair with a Windows disc. The difference that I notice is that with this laptop, the boot flag is on an ntfs partition called Recovery. I assume that this must be the reason why it is able to boot without a repair.

Can anyone explain to me what is happening here?

Best Answer

Boot is used by some commercial operating system boot loaders. The boot flag indicates the partition is active or bootable. Only one partition on a disk device can be active.

Source: GParted manual

Boot is just a... flag.

I needed to use a Windows recovery disc to repair the partition

Yes, because restoring the partition probably didn't restore a working bootloader.

Now I have done the same process again, except this time Windows boots immediately

Newer Windows versions (I guess 7 and 8, 8.1) install the bootloader on a separate partition, which is automatically created when you make the first partition on an unformatted HDD. Because the bootloader was intact, it looked for a partition with the boot flag and started the boot process from it.

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