AppleLike Windows, OSX has a number of options you can invoke at startup. One example of this would be holding down “c” during the boot up sequence in order to boot from a CD. That is just one example. I thought I should list the rest for my “OSX noob” friends.

In order to invoke these options simply hold down the desired key while OSX is starting up.

shift – Safe Mode

Boots OSX with a minimum set of drivers and options.

option – Startup Manager

Allows you to select which partition to boot from.

c – Boot from CD/DVD

Hold the “C” key down to boot directly from a CD/DVD in the drive.

Mouse button – Eject Media

If you hold down the mouse button during startup what ever is in the CD/DVD drive will be ejected.

cmd v – Verbose Boot

Displays all the startup messages that are normally hidden from the user.

t – Target Mode

This basically turn your computer in an external FireWire drive that you can connect to another computer. Useful if you have to transfer a large amount of data when there is no network present.

There are a few more, less useful, options.

cmd s – Single User Mode
n – Boot up from NetBoot Server
r – PowerBook Display Reset
x – OS X Force boot

Have fun.