The Importance of an Emergency Boot Disk

You know what an inconvenience it is if you have ever locked yourself out of your car, office or home. Chances are you have a spare key somewhere, or you can call a locksmith. Likewise, it is a good idea to have a spare key for your computer.  We call this spare key the "emergency boot disk"

There are not a lot of 24-hour computer locksmiths listed in the yellow pages. Believe me I know, I checked!  Its seems ironic, but in today’s society, 24-hour service is common. Just check the Internet. Have you every seen it closed? But you cannot get on to the Internet if you are locked out of your own computer. A computer that will not start up is usually a sign of trouble on the horizon.

The emergency boot disk is aptly named.  Like a tow truck for your car, you only need it in an emergency.  In some cases it can get your system up and running if only to check to see whether further repairs are needed.  Like the tow truck when your car is disabled, you want towing service or the car fixed right now. Remember your impatience when you are stranded on the highway.  If you have an emergency boot disk, you and your computer could be on  your way in no time. 

Most  emergency boot disks use regular blank 3 1/2" floppy disks.  The same software that allows your computer to start (boot up) is included on a "boot disk".  Windows is actually an additional set of programs that start after the computer has started.    

Several types of emergency boot disks actually exist

There are actually several types of emergency boot disks. 

The basic boot disk should start your computer and is usually one floppy disk.

NOTE: The basic boot disk is used for Windows 95, 98, 98SE and ME.

A recovery disk is a boot disk that has enough information on it to start (boot up) your computer and start some type of recovery and restore procedure.  This is usually associated with a backup program.  The recovery and restore procedures assume that everything in your computer has been wiped out or deleted.  Hopefully, all of your files and programs can be restored from a valid backup of your entire system.  These recovery disk sets can be one or more disks depending on the manufacturer of the backup and restore program.

An antivirus boot disk has basic boot up information as well as antivirus software.  The use of these disks assume that your system has been so badly infected with a computer virus that only the anti-virus software can remove the virus and fix your computer. 

To make the basic emergency boot disk you will need one blank floppy disk.

While the computer is already on:

• Save all work
• Exit all programs
• Click on Start
• Settings
• Control Panel
• Add/Remove Programs
• Click on the tab for Startup Disk
• Insert your floppy disk
• Click on Create Disk

You may be asked to insert the original Windows CD or a few disks so that the startup files can be copies to your floppy disk. If you installed Windows from a CD, you should insert it into the CD ROM now. If you installed from floppy disks, you will be asked to insert a specific disk number from the set.

The system will write the appropriate files to the disk and a progress bar will show percentage activity. Once done, remove the disk and label it as Windows Emergency Boot Disk. Keep it in a safe place. You can make several of these and keep them in various places in case one gets lost or damaged.

Remember to lock the floppy disk by moving the write-protect tab to the lock position on the back of the disk.  This should keep the disk from ever getting infected with a virus. 

For other recovery and antivirus software emergency disks, follow the instructions from each manufacturer:

Antivirus Software

• Norton Antivirus refers to these as Rescue Disks and currently uses a set of 5 disks. 
• McAfee VirusScan refers to these as Emergency Disks and only needs one disk.

Backup Utility Software:

Each backup program manufacturer uses a different term for its boot and recovery disks.  Check for terms like disaster recovery or restore in each program's help index.  Some examples are below and more will be added over time.

• HP Colorado Tape Backup refers to this as a Disaster Recovery Disk Set which includes a boot disk and additional software to configure the tape drive device
• PowerQuest Drive Image refers to this a bootable disk.
• Iomega's Zip Tools for Zip drives use a bootable disk with additional software included to recognize the Zip Drive 

Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP Boot Disks 

Windows 2000 and Windows XP systems do not have normal boot disks.  Most of these systems can be booted from the original Windows 2000 or XP CD ROM.  Your system must be configured to boot from the CD ROM drive.

Click here for more information on Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP Backup and Data Recovery Strategies