6.1 or 7.0

[Mervyn Haynes]

Daniel P. Cayea posted in the .dev group:-

It's your software, you can version it however you want, but I remember way
back, early 80's, the scheme I thought was, ultra significant changes were
incremented to the left of the decimal point and bug fixes and refinements
were to the right of the decimal point.

To me, all the hard work that you are doing and will do to enhance SpinRite
seems more like a 7.0 while the realtime OS and whatever is coming post 6.1
would be more a 7.1?

I kinda agree with this, what does everyone else think?

 

[DanR]

I would not agree with this reasoning.

While 6.1 is a indeed big step forward for 6.0, addressing many of 6.0's shortcomings, 6.1 will still have some of 6.0's limitations, such as BIOS boot only and limited USB support.

SR 7.0, with UEFI boot, will be a big leap forward by making SpinRite universally usable on new and old hardware.

Thus it does not seem appropriate to me to include 6.1 in the 7.x family when it is more closely aligned with SR 6.0.

Just my $0.02.

 

[PHolder]

It boils down to how easy it will be for @Steve's "transaction system" to give you your free upgrade. Presumably a point upgrade is always free to existing customers whereas a major version upgrade rarely is. If that's not a concern, I vote for SpinRite "We Survived 2021" Spin Harder (or maybe not at all) Edition (just kidding.)

 

[Mervyn Haynes]

Spinrite 6.1 will be 8-9 years late coming out (presumably if it is out next year), because of the work done on SQRL! If this is not a major upgrade then I don't what is. Steve can price his products anyway he wishes, he is not tied to "A corporate System" He could give away 7 & charge for 8 for example. Hell he could even call it as Paul says, "SpinRite "We Survived 2021" Spin Harder (or maybe not at all) Edition".

 

[Barry Wallis]

I guess I'm a pragmatist. I don't care what he calls it so long as he completes it. Even though I haven't been able to use SR for several years (I bought a UEFI based Microsoft Surface Book when they first came out), SR 6 was well worth the investment for what I got out of it before that. When I can purchase a copy that will work on my 4TB USB drive and MS Surface Book 3, I will gladly do it no matter what version number is attached to it.

 

[Mervyn Haynes]

When I can purchase a copy that will work on my 4TB USB drive and MS Surface Book 3, I will gladly do it no matter what version number is attached to it.

Me too. I purchased Srinrite to say thank you to Steve for all the knowledge he has given us. Used it a lot on drives, but only had 1 success. I would gladly pay for 6.1, and will certainly purchase 7 when it is released. Might have to wait until 2099 though !

 

[cbrillow]

I've been a Spinrite user for several years, having purchased 6.0 some time ago, and it was as much to support Steve's contributions to internet and computer security as it was to (hopefully) be able to recover from inevitable disc drive issues. It wasn't long before I ran into the infamous divide-by-0 error that occurs frequently on larger drives, and that's left me standing high and dry, without being able to thoroughly test, and possibly prevent and correct drive problems. And that's what Spinrite is supposed to be all about, isn't it?

I have tried some of the workarounds, such as creating a Spinrite version that runs on DOS rather than FreeDos. But that doesn't always work, either. In short, I've been disappointed in the ridiculously-long pause in development/bug fixes.

I never thought I'd be saying this, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'll live long enough to see this software improved, having turned 70 last December. I'm somewhat hopeful that there will be some movement later in the year -- at least he seems to be working towards it.

 

[DanR]

I'm somewhat hopeful that there will be some movement later in the year -- at least he seems to be working towards it.

Yes, Steve is hard at work on SR 6.1. Per his latest comments in the SpinRite development NG, it would seem he is either in the home stretch or getting close to it. No way to know for sure, however.

 

[doopy]

I would not agree with this reasoning.

While 6.1 is a indeed big step forward for 6.0, addressing many of 6.0's shortcomings, 6.1 will still have some of 6.0's limitations, such as BIOS boot only and limited USB support.

SR 7.0, with UEFI boot, will be a big leap forward by making SpinRite universally usable on new and old hardware.

Thus it does not seem appropriate to me to include 6.1 in the 7.x family when it is more closely aligned with SR 6.0.

Just my $0.02.

Some developers use the major version number to indicate breaking changes. For example, 7.0 will be the first to support UEFI, like you said, and I think Steve said 6.1 will be the last to support 16-bit systems.

The other thing is, we don't know what it looks like under the hood. A small change for a user might be a huge change for a developer. However since spinrite's license is tied to version number (i.e. 6.0 -> 6.1 is a free upgrade), I have to agree with the OP it would make more sense to charge for all the new features in 6.1.

I would imagine though that a good many, if not most, spinrite users are repeat customers who are going to continue buying new versions as long as Steve keeps them coming.

 

[DanR]

Some developers use the major version number to indicate breaking changes. For example, 7.0 will be the first to support UEFI, like you said, and I think Steve said 6.1 will be the last to support 16-bit systems.

Right!

I have to agree with the OP it would make more sense to charge for all the new features in 6.1.

A valid point. However, @Steve has firmly stated that he feels he owes something to long time SpinRite 6.0 owners who have been waiting for so long (Years!!!) for an update to a product that has been overtaken by the advance of technology. Hence a free upgrade to SR 6.1 for them. New owners, however, will pay the full price.

I would imagine though that a good many, if not most, spinrite users are repeat customers who are going to continue buying new versions as long as Steve keeps them coming.

Right! Many have done just that. And any who wish to may do so.

 

[Roger Rabbit]

Anything that will run with any hardware/drives newer than say 2016 would be welcome. Numbers or names are meaningless, what matters is function.

Long time user and owner... but it has been a completely useless with newer drives, and/or BIOS. Example, 6-year-old basic Dell laptop, i5 processor, win 10, 500GB mechanical drive.... and "MBR followed by EFI"error... stoppage... and so no attempting fixing that drive or recovering anything, at least not with SR.

I don't care what it is called, just update it. That has been promised for what, maybe 10+ years now.

 

[Mervyn Haynes]

I don't care what it is called, just update it. That has been promised for what, maybe 10+ years now.

Yes, it has been far too long, but at least he is on it now. Like I said it was delayed 7 years by, IMHO, the wasted time on SQRL.

 

[Darcon]

Purchaser of 6.0, a long time ago (Window Vista) but couldn't use it on my personal system (the reason I purchased Spinrite, until I gave it away to someone else a couple years ago) due to HP and their weird boot partition that Spinrite said was dangerous (don't recall the error message anymore) as data loss was probable. I did use it to help my kids recover their systems a few times and recovered a couple other systems as well.

It just took way too long to bother recovering my Dad's laptop, 3 weeks waiting and I gave up. I just donated it as a system without a drive and drilled holes through his drive.

6.1 should be a decent speed upgrade from 6.0. It will just be a pain to use for those of us that can get back to legacy boot instead of UEFI.

The people stuck on UEFI will need to wait, probably 5 years for 7.0 to come out, which I will purchase as UEFI will be mandatory by then and my new system will not have a legacy boot option.

Spinrite 6.0 is a decent tool if you have the time to use it. I have kept a spare system around just to Spinrite drives while I use my current system without blocking my access to my personal system.

I think if you have a UEFI system, especially if there is no legacy boot mode, waiting for 7 is the way to go.

 

[Barry Wallis]

It seems to me if you purchased 6.0 and gave it away, you should probably purchase 6.1. Am I missing something?

 

[Mervyn Haynes]

The people stuck on UEFI will need to wait, probably 5 years for 7.0 to come out

I estimated some time ago it would take 3 years for 7.0 to be released, but no one would take by bet. So I recon we should see it by Christmas 2023. Nice Christmas present for myself, and just in time as I get my OAP to pay for it.

 

[doopy]

Yes, it has been far too long, but at least he is on it now. Like I said it was delayed 7 years by, IMHO, the wasted time on SQRL.

Did SQRL really take 7 years? If so I kind of have to agree with you. That's a bit excessive in retrospect. He could have turned it over to the community much earlier than he did, I think.

 

[doopy]

Spinrite 6.0 is a decent tool if you have the time to use it. I have kept a spare system around just to Spinrite drives while I use my current system without blocking my access to my personal system.

That's usually how I do it. And if I want to spinrite a drive that's currently in service, I clone it to a new drive, swap it out, and spinrite it in a spare machine.

 

[doopy]

It seems to me if you purchased 6.0 and gave it away, you should probably purchase 6.1. Am I missing something?

I think he meant he gave the computer away, not spinrite.

 

[Mervyn Haynes]

Did SQRL really take 7 years? If so I kind of have to agree with you.

The first reference I can find is SN 424 OCT 2013. But I am sure he discussed the principle of it with Leo in a previous episode, but cannot find that episode!

 

[DanR]

Did SQRL really take 7 years?

About 6.5 years actually. From Aug/Sep 2013 until Jan 2020.