The Startup Disk Control Panel is where you choose where you would like your Mac to look for a "Blessed" System folder. A "Blessed" system is one which has a valid system suitcase and a finder in it and will have this icon . You would want to change the startup disk if you were having trouble with your system and need to startup from an emergency disk like Norton Utilities or DiskWarrior, as I have highlighted below. Once you have highlighted the startup disk you wish to use, close the window and restart. The icon for the startup disk will be at the top left of your desktop.

Once you have made the choice you close the window and when you choose to restart you will be starting from that disk with it's system active. This is one way you can start from an external drive for running utilities that can't repair the start-up disk. You could also hold down the "C" key at start up if you are using a CD.

I have my hard disk partitioned into 3 partitions, two have OS8.6 and the other OS8.1. I have this to be able to aid people using different system software. I can boot up either system and see, rather than try to remember, the system they are using. This is the only save way to have two different system folders on your hard drive.

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