A boot disk is a removable digital data storage medium from which a computer can load and run (boot) an operating system or utility program. The computer must have a built-in program which will load and execute a program from a boot disk meeting certain standards.
Boot disks are used for:
- Operating system installation
- Data recovery
- Data purging
- Hardware or software troubleshooting
- BIOS flashing
- Customizing an operating environment
- Software demonstration
- Administrative access in case of lost password is possible with an appropriate boot disk with some operating systems
- Games (e.g. for Amiga home computers)
While almost all modern computers can boot from a hard drive containing the operating system and other software, they would not normally be called boot disks. CD-ROMs are the most common forms of media used, but other media, such as magnetic or paper tape drives, zip drives, and more recently USB flash drives can be used. The computer's BIOS must support booting from the device in question.
Read more about Boot Disk: The Process of Booting, Boot Floppies, Booting From A Disk, Required Files
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