The CD-ROM Boot Menu
Immediately after successfully creating a RescueBoot CD you should perform a test of the newly created RescueBoot CD to ensure that the RescueBoot environment on the CD will be will be fully functional when it becomes necessary for you to use it. To perform a test of the newly created RescueBoot CD you will need place the CD in your computer's CD ROM drive and then restart your computer by clicking on the "Start" button in the task bar of your computer screen and then clicking on the "Turn Off Computer" button located on the Start Menu. When the "Turn off computer" dialog is displayed on the screen click on the button labeled "Restart".
As your computer restarts you should notice the CD boot menu being displayed. (If you do not see this menu you may need to should read the section labeled "Enabling Your Computer To Boot From a CD" in the "Advanced Topics" section of this help file.) This boot menu provides you with a list of operating systems to choose from. The default selection on this menu will be "Start Windows From Your RescueBoot CD" as shown in the image below. Windows will start automatically from your RescueBoot CD 20 seconds after this boot menu is displayed or you may press the "Enter" key on your keyboard to immediately start Windows from the RescueBoot CD. It is important to remember after selecting to start Windows from your RescueBoot CD you not attempt to eject the RescueBoot CD from the CD ROM drive.
The CD-ROM Boot Menu
Because the data transfer rate of a CD-ROM device is much slower than that of a hard disk device you will notice that starting Windows from your RescueBoot CD will require more time than it normally takes to start Windows from the hard drive. It will normally require between 3 to 5 minutes for Windows to start from your RescueBoot CD, but after the initial startup time you will notice very little difference in the performance of Windows running from your RescueBoot CD when compared to Windows running from your hard drive. The RescueBoot CD software utilizes extensive read-ahead caching techniques to enhance Windows performance when running from a CD device.
After starting Windows from the RescueBoot CD you be in a RescueBoot environment that is almost identical to the RescueBoot environment that you experience when Windows was started from the RescueBoot directory. You will notice a few two differences when running Windows from the RescueBoot CD as compared to running Windows from the RescueBoot directory. The first difference you will notice is that you will not be able to use the Windows XP CD burning option to burn files onto blank CDs when booted from the RescueBoot CD. The second difference you will notices when running Windows from the CD is that the hard drive partition containing your normal Windows files has been assigned a different drive letter such as Z: and the emulated hard drive created by the RescueBoot device drivers on the RescueBoot CD will be assigned the drive letter that was original associated with your Windows files. The image below demonstrates these drive letter assignments when running from the RescueBoot CD.
Example Drive Letter Assignments In The RescueBoot CD Environment
When you are running Windows from the RescueBoot CD the RescueBoot drive appears like a normal hard disk with free space on to which you can drag files. It is important to note that while the RescueBoot drive appears normal it is really a virtual drive with all free space and writeable files existing only in your computers memory. Any files you copy onto the RescueBoot drive and any changes you make to files existing on the RescueBoot files are stored in computer memory and will be lost when you reboot or shutdown your computer.
After you have completed any tasks you wish to perform within the RescueBoot you should shut Windows down in the normal manner by selecting the desired action from the "Turn Off Computer" option in the "Start" menu. If you need to manually eject the RescueBoot CD before turning off your computer you should select the option to restart your computer and when the RescueBoot CD boot menu is displayed, move the up or down arrow key on your keyboard to stop the automatic boot timer so that you can then eject the CD and manually switch the power off on your computer using the computer's power switch.
The RescueBoot CD boot menu also provides you with the option to start Windows normally from your hard drive by using the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the "Start Windows Normally From Your Hard Disk Option" menu option as shown in the image below and then pressing the "Enter" key on your keyboard. This option comes in handy if you want to start your computer after forgetting to remove your RescueBoot CD from your CD drive or simply want to start Windows normally after testing your RescueBoot CD.
Starting Windows Normally From the CD-ROM Boot Menu
Copyright 2006 John Alan Hensley. All rights reserved.