What's the difference between boot from CD and just my computer?

[Magix]

So whenever I've had to format my PC in the past, I've popped in the CD, restarted my PC, hit the button that boots from CD, and followed the instructions there.

But I've always wondered - why can't I just pop in the CD, go to my computer, and open the contents from there? Does it do the same thing and it's down to just preference? Or does it do something differently?

 

[wtburnette]

They boot different environments. Booting from your PC loads whatever OS you have installed and all the settings and apps you have. Booting from the CD/DVD brings up whatever environment is on the disk. Even if it's the same OS, it'll have different settings then what you have installed on your system. Accessing the disk from your computer only gets you access to the files on the disk, not the environment.

 

[Evil_SPanKY]

It's a case by case basis, so this may not apply. In Windows systems, usually the boot from CD option lets you do a full wipe/fresh and clean install. While the run the CD from within Windows gives you the ability to do an upgrade based install.