An independent publication about how computers start

Boot Media Notes is a small independent publication about a narrow subject: how computers start, what bootable media is, and how to prepare it without losing data along the way. It exists because the material is scattered across vendor documentation, project wikis and forum threads written for people who already understand the answer.

What we publish

Reference articles. Each one takes a single topic — a firmware mechanism, a storage layout, an image format, a practical procedure — and explains it in ordinary language, with the trade-offs stated plainly. We say when something varies by manufacturer, and we say when we do not know.

What we do not do

• We do not host or distribute software. There are no downloads on this site and no links to any.
• We are not affiliated with any project or vendor. Not with the Ventoy project, not with any operating system publisher, not with any hardware manufacturer.
• We do not accept payment for coverage. No sponsored articles, no paid placements, no arrangements that decide what appears here.
• We do not publish step-by-step instructions for circumventing security controls. Firmware settings are described as vendors document them and nothing further.

Who writes it

Articles are written and reviewed by a small editorial team with backgrounds in systems administration and technical writing. Every article carries a publication date and a review date, and we revise rather than repost when something changes.

How the site is built

Static HTML and CSS, one small script for navigation and one for cookie choices. Illustrations are drawn as SVG rather than loaded from an image service, and typefaces come from your own system rather than a font network, so a page load makes no third-party request at all. There are no comment systems, no chat widgets, no embedded social scripts, and no outbound links. Nothing is loaded before you have made a cookie choice.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, we would like to know. Write to us through the contact page with the article and the specific claim, and we will check it. Corrections are made in the article and noted in the review date.