Patent ID: 8006125

Claim:
A computing apparatus, comprising: a display unit; an input device; a first memory and a second memory; a target operating system stored in the first memory, the target operating system corresponding to a source operating system stored in the second memory; a processor coupled to the display unit, the input device, the first memory and the second memory; wherein first instructions are stored in the second memory that, when executed by the processor, perform at least one first boot process that is independent of the target operating system; wherein second instructions are stored in the second memory that, when executed by the processor, perform at least one second boot process that is dependent on the target operating system; wherein third instructions are stored in the second memory that are to be executed by the processor before the second instructions are executed by the processor, the third instructions, when executed, determine the occurrence of a corrupt one of a partition table or a boot sector as a part of the at least one first boot process, identify a valid other one of the partition table metadata or the boot sector metadata, analyze the valid other one of the partition table or the boot sector, and in response to the analysis of the valid other one of the partition table or the boot sector, recover the corrupt one of the partition table or the boot sector based on information in the valid other one of the partition table or the boot sector; and wherein the third instructions, when executed by the processor, allow a boot error that results from the at least one first boot process to be automatically corrected without requiring any intervention by a user of the computing apparatus.