In last month’s column, I described the hurdles that Mac OS X puts in your way when you try to create a bootable disc, especially a custom bootable CD, DVD or flash drive. I offered various solutions ...

Keeping a bootable USB of the current operating system is just a basic tier of protection. It brings a false sense of confidence that one day, when your computer cannot load the OS, you can use the ...

If your Mac has multiple bootable disks—via either a partitioned internal disk or external FireWire drives—you’re probably very familiar with the Startup Disk System Preferences panel. As you’d guess ...

Apple only sells OS X Mountain Lion as a digital download in the Mac App Store. The installer weighs in at a hefty 4.05GB, but the good news is that you can install your copy of Mountain Lion on all ...

Have a bootable Linux USB recovery disk ready for system recovery, file access, and malware removal. Use it for managing partitions, troubleshooting, diagnostics, privacy, and security to maintain ...

[Editor’s note: This article is part of our series of articles on installing and upgrading to Lion (OS X 10.7). We also have a complete guide to installing and upgrading to Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8).] ...

So, I've got a G5, and its internal drive seems to have been somewhat corrupted. When it tries to boot, it just shows the spinner for 15 minutes or so as the fans grow ever-louder. I can boot off the ...

The computer didn't come with a restore disk, so I resorted to downloading one from BitTorrent. After all, whether or not the operating system disk is legitimate, I have a valid serial number. However ...

Boot disk recovery and repair toolkits don’t get any better than this Windows-based environment. Finally, we come to a boot disc that offers useful tools, is easyto use, and can be created from ...

Apple has released Mac OS X Lion in the Mac App Store for $30. Separately, Apple will also begin offering Lion on a USB thumb drive in Apple stores come August. Right now, you can grab Lion from the ...

Here is a question from reader Danny. “I have XP Pro installed at the moment and I would like to format my hard drive so that I can install 2000. Apart from hooking my drive up as a slave to another ...

Using a Windows XP upgrade CD The Boot Camp installation instructions claim that a valid full Windows XP SP2 disc is required and that upgrade discs cannot be used ...