Cold Boot Vs Warm Boot

Cold and Warm Booting are two different types of booting in computers. In this article, we explore the 5 differences between cold booting and warm booting. Let’s Begin!

The boot is a set of processes or functions that involve loading and booting the operating system from the point when the user presses the power button. This is also known as restart, reboot, or booting. A booting process consists of 6 major steps.

• 6 Steps in Booting Process

At booting time, the boot instructions are loaded from the system ROM. The operating system is loaded from the current boot disk. In general, the boot disk may be an internal hard drive. After the operating system boots, the boot process is complete and the system is ready for use.

What is a Cold Booting In Computer?

Cold booting is the process of booting a system that has been turned off. This is usually done by pressing the power button on the computer. Cold Startup does Power on Self-Testing (POST).

This is a series of system checks at the beginning of the boot queue. In other words, it checks that all the requirements are met and that the hardware is working properly before the operating system starts.

When repairing the system, the user will be prompted to turn off the system completely. Then a cold boot is done. It removes all temporary data from the system and removes issues that could affect the operation of the system.

What is a Warm Booting?

A warm booting is a process of restarting the system. It can be configured with the operating system. In Windows, the user can start hot booting by selecting the Restart option from the Start menu. On the Mac, the user can begin to warm booting by selecting Reboot from the Apple menu.

A warm boot is usually done by a cold start because users will leave the system in standby mode when it is not running. The warm-up process has no power source for automatic control but does the rest of the boot sequence. It loads all the installed system files before restarting the system.

Differences Between Cold Booting And Warm Booting

Cold booting is the process of starting a computer from a power outage and operating normally. A warm booting is a process of restarting an already running system without shutting it down completely. Therefore, it explains the differences between cold booting and warm booting.

1. During a cold start by pressing the power button on the computer, the operating system starts immediately.
2. A cold boot is also known as a hard start while a warm boot is also called a soft start.
3. A cold boot resets the system completely rather than a hot boot. This is another difference between a cold boot and a warm boot.
4. The cold boot has an automatic control function (POST), while the hot boot has no self-regulating function (POST).
5. A warm boot is more common than a cold boot.

Conclusion

The booting can be cold or hot, depending on whether you want to boot the system from sleep mode or startup mode. The difference between cold booting and warm booting is that a cold boot is the startup of the system during a shutdown, while a warm boot is a process of restarting the system without interruption of power.