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BootAble – FreeDOS boot testing freeware
To obtain direct, low-level access to a system's mass storage drives, SpinRite runs under a GRC-customized version of FreeDOS which has been modified to add compatibility with all file systems. In order to run SpinRite it must first be possible to boot FreeDOS.
GRC's “BootAble” freeware allows anyone to easily create BIOS-bootable media in order to workout and confirm the details of getting a machine to boot FreeDOS through a BIOS. Once the means of doing that has been determined, the media created by SpinRite can be booted and run in the same way.
The participants here, who have taken the time to share their knowledge and experience, their successes and some frustrations with booting their computers into FreeDOS, have created a valuable knowledgebase which will benefit everyone who follows.
You may click on the image to the right to obtain your own copy of BootAble. Then use the knowledge and experience documented here to boot your computer(s) into FreeDOS. And please do not hesitate to ask questions – nowhere else can better answers be found.
(You may permanently close this reminder with the 'X' in the upper right.)
If the drive is a quality drive, and doesn't have the problems that ValiDrive is testing for, then the test is meant to be non-destructive. If however, the drive is built with some of the cheats that ValiDrive is trying to detect, then it's possible that it could have intentional misbehaviour that could lead to lost data. To be clear however, it would ultimately be the case that continued use of a misbehaving drive would lead to data loss anyway...
As ever, USB flash devices, even of the highest quality, are not suitable for backups. Make [multiple] backups on quality media if the data matters to you.
Paul Holder described it perfectly. The app itself is carefully designed and well tested to always put the data back that it reads and writes. But if the drive is not accepting writes reliably then it's possible that ValiDrive's attempt to replace the original data might fail.Is the app test safe or destructive to the drive content ?
So... Yeah... It SHOULD be non-destructive.
This sounds like you're referring to HDDs but that is not the target of ValiDrive. It ONLY tests USB flash devices.
I had filtered by unread posts and didn't catch the sub forum thread title. That makes more sense.
ValiDrive will test ANY drive connected do a USB port. That includes USB flash drives, USB SSD drives, USB HDD drive, and USB NVMe drives.
I have tested my USB HDD's with ValiDrive. It works great! (I do not have any USB SSD's or NVMe's)
What it can do and what you should do are two different things. You can use a fork to eat soup, but it's not what it's designed for.
But for SSD, NVMe or HDD USB drives, it is much harder (and more costly) to fake them and so such fakes are much less likely to be encountered. So, while ValiDrive can properly scan these USB drives there may not be that much point in doing so.
