El Torito
El Torito
El Torito is a specification for booting a computer from a CD-ROM drive, allowing the computer to boot from a CD instead of a floppy disk or hard drive. This technology is commonly used to install operating systems and run diagnostic tools.
What does El Torito mean?
El Torito, also known as the Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD), is a computer industry specification that defines a standard for bootable CD-ROMs. It allows a computer to boot from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive without the need for a separate boot floppy disk. The El Torito specification defines Two types of bootable CD-ROMs:
- Legacy El Torito: This type of bootable CD-ROM is compatible with older computers that do not Support the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). Legacy El Torito bootloaders are stored in the first 32 sectors of the CD-ROM and are loaded into memory by the computer’s BIOS.
- UEFI El Torito: This type of bootable CD-ROM is compatible with newer computers that support UEFI. UEFI El Torito bootloaders are stored in a special partition on the CD-ROM and are loaded into memory by the computer’s UEFI firmware.
El Torito is named after the El Torito restaurant in Sunnyvale, California, where the specification was first developed.
Applications
El Torito is an important Technology because it allows computers to boot from CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs without the need for a separate boot floppy disk. This has made it possible to distribute operating systems and other software on CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs, which are much More convenient and reliable than floppy disks. El Torito is also used to create bootable live CDs, which can be used to run a computer from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM without installing the operating system on the computer’s hard drive.
History
The El Torito specification was first developed in 1994 by a group of computer industry companies, including IBM, Microsoft, and Sony. The specification was originally designed for CD-ROMs, but it was later updated to support DVD-ROMs. The current version of the El Torito specification is version 2.0, which was released in 2009.
El Torito has been widely adopted by the computer industry. Most computers today are able to boot from El Torito CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs. El Torito is also supported by a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS.