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The x86 system disks contain a fixed disk partition table. This
table is used by the first-stage bootstrap, or firmware, to identify
parts of the disk reserved for different operating systems, and to
identify the partition containing the second-stage bootstrap (the
active Solaris OS partition).
The fdisk(1M) command is used to create or modify the fixed disk partition table. The maximum number of partitions on a disk is 4.
Only one fdisk partition on a disk can contain a Solaris OS
partition, as shown in the image. The others can be used for other x86
platform compatible operating systems.
The Master Boot Record
The Master Boot Record (MBR) starts at sector 0 and is one sector
(512 bytes) in size. The MBR consists of a bootstrap code, the fdisk partition table, and signatures. The MBR is also known as the Solaris OS "mboot" record. Only one of the four possible fdisk
partitions can be set as the "active" partition. This is the partition
that the boot process tries to autoboot unless there is user
intervention.
The Partition Boot Record
The Partition Boot Record (PBR) is also known as the pboot record and is located in the first sector of the first cylinder of the bootable Solaris OS fdisk partition. The PBR loads the bootblk during the boot process.
The VTOC
The Volume Table of Contents (VTOC) is located on sectors 1 and 2 of the first cylinder of the Solaris OS fdisk partition. The VTOC contains the Solaris OS slice definitions.
The Boot Block
The boot block is approximately 30 sectors in size. The bootblk finds and executes the secondary boot program.
Solaris OS fdisk Cylinder 1 and 2 on IDE Disks
The next 2 cylinders on the Solaris OS fdisk partition on an IDE disk contain blocks used to store bad block information. This feature is not on SCSI or Fibre disks.
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