A boot device gets a computer up and running, kick starting itself from simple startup processes to a full operating system. It is named after bootstrapping, which means to use something simple that, bit by bit, develops more complex capabilities on top of the simpler ones, essentially "pulling itself up by its own bootstraps".

Devices that can boot a computer are usually boot disks or boot drives (normally a hard drive, but can be a floppy disk, CD or USB flash drive). Some network computers use boot chips that get the operating system over a network. Web phones also use such chips to identify the user to the cell network. Boot card standards may let many users boot kiosk computers with full privacy and access to all applications they own.

Some people refer to the boot device as just a boot and non-boot devices as data devices, although it is not the computer but the operating system that cares about the difference between these.

Also in this jargon, a boot also puts you on the net, especially the Internet, and web - the World Wide Web.

Boot devices need a boot sector to be able to boot. The order of boot devices to boot from can be configured in the BIOS.

References

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Boot device

Operating system technology | Thiết bị khởi động