Bootsect.bak

After a clean install of Vista I noticed there is a file in C: Drive called
Bootsect.bak and is visible even with hidden folders options set to not show.

What is this file and why was it created in a clean install? Also, is it
safe to delete it?

Depends on what you mean by a clean installation. If you used the custom
install option then that did not result in a reformat of the disk.

I think the file is leftover from installation on a volume that had boot
code for XP or W2k. In the event of an aborted installation Setup rolls
back to the legacy OS and would most likely rename the extension so that the
user could boot his old system.

I always do a quick format if I am installing a fresh copy of Vista. I only
delete partitions if I was having boot problems and just want to start
completely over. Seeing a bootsec file is normal if the drive has
previously been the boot drive for XP.

Thanks for the reply Colin. Good to know it’s safe to delete.

I've done many clean installs of Vista but this is the first time I've seen
this file. I may have forgotten but I'm pretty sure I selected to have the
drive formatted during install (or main partition deleted? - can't remember
which now).

So do you think something went wrong with the installation? Would there be
left-over files from previous XP or Vista installs still on the drive? Any
easy way to find out?

I'm getting no indication of anything amiss here as it's working ok; just
the bak file in question is all.

Windows XP SP2 was on there. But I booted from the Vista DVD and ran a clean
install (at least I'm pretty sure I did - formatted my HD).

The bak file in question was 8kb in size but I already deleted it so I
cannot see what was in it. Also, I don't have NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM or Boot.ini.

If you don't mind me asking one more silly question; during a clean install
I recall being presented with the options of Format drive and Delete
Partition (it's only one physical drive with one partition). Is it best to do
a Format, Delete or both?

I must have selected something I've not done before during this install
because, as mentioned, I've never seen this bootsect file before.

I already deleted the file. I am now just curious; is this file created
normally after every clean install of Vista? I had XP installed before I ran
the clean install but I thought when I selected the Format option during
Vista setup I would be wiping clean my drive, no?

I'm wondering what I did different this time as I've installed Vista before
on this machine but never noticed this file.

Was WinXP (or Win2K) on your computer when you ran Vista Setup? If so, you
probably also still have C:\NTLDR, C:\NTDETECT.COM and C:|Boot.ini, too.
These are the WinXP startup files that Vista's BCD (Boot Configuration Data)
will need for you to boot into the "previous version of Windows", if you
choose that option from the dual-boot opening menu of operating systems.
The file C:\BOOTSECT.BAK should be exactly 512 bytes; it is a copy of the
WinXP-style boot sector for the System Partition. If you look at it in
Notepad, it looks like gibberish except for a few error messages at the end
and "MSDOS5.0" at the beginning.

But I think the answer involves the fact that the boot sector is NOT a file,
so it is not wiped out by a format. It is the first physical sector of each
primary partition or logical drive and, therefore, outside the file system;
it is not in any folder, not even the Root. Its contents are created during
installation of WinXP or some other operating system. It holds instructions
for use during the very early stages of booting, before the system even
knows how to handle partitions and directories. MS-DOS and Win9x created a
boot sector that told the primitive system to look in the Root of the System
Partition for the files io.sys and msdos.sys. WinNT4 through WinXP wrote
the boot sector to look there for the file NTLDR (no extension). I haven't
read Vista's boot sector yet, but I suspect that it looks in the Root of the
System Partition for the file bootmgr (no extension) and the folder \Boot.

When Vista Setup runs, it reads the boot sector and, if it finds a previous
version, copies it into a new file in the Root of the System Partition
(\BOOTSECT.BAK) for safekeeping until it is needed to boot the previous
operating system. If you create a dual-boot system, then each time you
reboot, the Vista system starts and gets to the operating system menu. If
you choose Vista, it continues through the BCD process. If you choose the
previous version of Windows, then BCD steps back out of the way and loads
BOOTSECT.BAK, which finds NTLDR and presents the WinXP-style menu from
Boot.ini.

So, yes, if you do not intend to dual-boot to a previous Windows, then you
can safely delete BOOTSECT.BAK, as well as NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini,
if they still exist on your computer.

This may not be exactly correct. I hope Chad or Colin or some other techie
can clarify or correct any goofs I've made.

We have answered this a few times. It is there because a previous version
of Windows was there. Vista does not automatically do a "clean" install.
It does a Custom install or an upgrade install. A custom install does not
format the hard drive before installing Vista. If you want a classic clean
install you have to format the drive before beginning the installation. If
you do an upgrade of course you are not reformatting. Vista will create a
bootsec.bak so that if the upgrade fails it can restore the bootablility of
your previous system. Why are you having trouble with this?

Vista does not necessarily format the partition. Custom install is not a
classic clean install. To do a full format before installing one has to use
the Format tool in the Advanced Options when booting with the dvd. If
running from the legacy desktop this is not possible.

Custom and Upgrade are the only two options whether you boot with the dvd or
start Setup from the desktop. There is no "clean" install option. I am
just making sure folks realize this change from earlier versions of Windows.

Vista will do a quick format if it is a raw partition. But it will not if
you do a custom installation on an already formatted partition. The
scenario I am talking about is when someone decides to install Vista on an
XP partition and thinks that custom will do a format. If they have started
Setup from the XP desktop not only will a format not happen but the Format
tool is not even available. People keep thinking that a custom install is
necessarily a clean install in the traditional sense and it not.

Sorry Colin; didn't mean for this to aggravate you or anything. I appreciated
your responses.

I guess I was hung up on the fact that during the custom install that I did
I was presented with a FORMAT Drive option and thought that actually meant
"format the hard drive", hence my reference to 'clean install', which in turn
led me to believe that it shouldn't matter what was there before (XP or
whatever else), it shouldn't leave the file in question after the install.

Ahh... But whenever you boot from the DVD the only 2 options are Upgrade
or Custom. Don't ask why. In my case the drive had no partitions on it
since I had already removed them. So I did custom as upgrade was greyed
out. Created a new partition. Formatted it and installed. So in my
book that is about as clean as it gets. The MBR is already tainted
though from a prior XP/Vista dual-boot that I had done earlier.

I have two hdds...one has XP on it and the other...Vista. For both I deleted
previous partitions and did the full format for XP and the format option for
Vista. I choose which os i want to boot into when I start the computer. Why
am I seeing bootsec.bak file in my XP hdd? Is it safe to delete?

I have also installed a clean vista. And also got these Bak file on 8 kb. Maybe this bak file could help me????
I got a serious problem, I have all my pic,(even from holiday) music, movie, and a lot of more stuff in the shared folder on drive D:. And then i format the Drive C: and installed a clean copy of vista. Then When I was finished I found out that theese shared folder on drive D: also got a clean copy. So i might think they have got a new direction, and now theese Shared folders are empty. I have tried to use some recovery programs and other oppotunities but nothing found. And also if i type D:tree or dir in cmd nothing showed. But my harddrive space is that much filed like before i copy a fresh clean Vista. I think that theese shared folders on drive D: got some new path. Plz some maybe could be nice to reply this??

I deleted bootsect.bak, and now my comp wont boot, and i lost my vista disc, any ideas? or could someone email me the file?
I'm using the 64 bit version. pls help, thanks

Try repairing your system. Boot from your Windows Vista DVD, select the
System Repair Option > on the setup screen, select 'Repair Computer > Select
your installation of Windows > select Startup Repair option and follow
instructions.

Search for the file types, if there not on any drives on the machine they may be gone.
Did you back up these files to another location(cd, dvd, external drive etc)?
How many drives show up in Vista, if more than one, look in all of them.

Thanks for Ro ask this question,when I google Bootsect.bak and the first result is this thread.I think we forget two important things,what's Bootsect.bak stand for?As RC said it's stand for Boot Sector,it's a Boot Sector back up file.

From wikipedia I got Boot Sector is in the first Sector of hdd(clindyer 0, side 0, sector 1),it occupies 512 bytes,include MBR (Main Boot Record) and DPT (Disk Partition Table).The MBR occupies 446 bytes,and DPT occupies 64 Bytes, end indicator occupies 2 Bytes.

The structure of the main boot sector is as follows:

000H-08AH: MBR booting program (searching for the booting partition);

08BH-0D9H: the MBR booting string;

0DAH-1BCH: spare area ("0");

1BEH-1FDH: disk partition table; and

1FEH-1FFH: end indicator ("55AA").

The DPT occupies 64 bytes (01BE-01FD), each partition occupies 16 bytes, so four partitions can be represented. This is the reason that each hard disk totally can include only four partitions, including main and extension partitions.

when hdd was format by fdisk /format,it will creat MBR and DPT .And that's why it's not clean install,it doesnot clean the MBR,I think maybe run fdisk /mbr before install can really clean Boot Sector so that Bootsect.bak won't appear.

Sorry for my bad english,hope you can understand,I'm not a geek so it can be mistake,if you found please mail to cuthead@live.cn,thank you so much.

When Processor first starts up, there is nothing at all in the memory to
execute. Processor makers know this will happen, so they pre-program
Processor or Hardware Interrupt to always look at the same place in the
system ROM for the start of the BIOS program. This is normally location
FFFF0h, right at the end of the system memory. They put it there so that the
size of the ROM can be changed without creating compatibility problems.
Since there are only 16 bytes left from there to the end of conventional
memory, this location just contains a "jump" instruction telling the
processor where to go to find the real BIOS startup program.

The BIOS performs the power-on self test (POST). If there are any fatal
errors, the boot process stops.
The BIOS looks for the video card. In particular, it looks for the video
card's built in BIOS program and runs it. This BIOS is normally found at
location C000h in memory. The system BIOS executes the video card BIOS,
which initializes the video card. Most modern cards will display information
on the screen about the video card. (This is why on a modern PC you usually
see something on the screen about the video card before you see the messages
from the system BIOS itself).
The BIOS then looks for other devices' ROMs to see if any of them have
BIOSes. Normally, the IDE/ATA hard disk BIOS will be found at C8000h and
executed. If any other device BIOSes are found, they are executed as well.
The BIOS displays its startup screen.

The rest I could explain only if you ask, but the above gives you an idea of
what happens when you press power or reset button.

I got a spam mail from my e-mail address! so I formated the c drive from windows vista custom format, I had no other choise. I use this video to format.
How to format hard drive from youtube.

I changed pass words and spent hours downloading adobe and other programs I needed.

I thought I was good, then I get a message telling me I was signed off of yahoo messenger since I sign in on a different computer. I did not even download that program., nor did I switch computers. I did download yahoo messenger now to see if what I could find.

Question by formatting does it not give me a clean computer?