- Introduction
- Understanding System Preferences
- Viewing System Preferences
- Locking and Unlocking Preference Settings
- Changing Appearance Options
- Setting Up the Desktop
- Setting Up Screen Savers
- Setting the Date and Time
- Changing Language Options
- Changing Text Substitution Options
- Saving Energy and Managing Power
- Selecting a Startup Disk
- Changing the Way a CD or DVD Starts
- Controlling Sound
- Dictating Your Speech
- Letting Mac Do the Talking
- Setting Accessibility Options
- Having VoiceOver Read from the Screen
- Setting VoiceOver Preferences
- Using VoiceOver Commands
- Setting Ink Preferences
Selecting a Startup Disk
Instead of starting from your local hard disk, you can start your computer from a CD or DVD, a network volume, another disk or disk partition (a single hard disk separated into two distinct areas), or another operating system, such as Microsoft Windows. Starting your computer with Windows is useful when you want to use applications that are not compatible with OS X. When you start your computer in Windows, you need to use the Startup Disk Control Panel in the Apple menu to switch back to your OS X startup disk. If Windows is not available in the Startup Disk preference pane, you need to have an Intel-based Mac and use Boot Camp Assistant to set up your computer. You can also restart you computer in Target Disk Mode, which allows you to connect to another computer using a FireWire cable and use it as a hard disk.
Select a Startup Disk
- Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock, and then click the Startup Disk icon.
- Click the icon of the system folder you want to use as the startup disk.
To restart your computer, click Restart.
- To restart your computer in order to connect to another computer using a FireWire cable, click Target Disk Mode, read the dialog for instructions, and then click Restart.