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.)
That's an interesting question. I'll give that my focus today before I turn to tomorrow's podcast. There are two modes for a CD boot. The ISO that the current SRv6.0 app produces is a diskette emulation mode, which is one of the modes that CD's can use. So I reuse the existing diskette image and write it (with a bunch of CD "El Torito" stuff, to an ISO. That would not work for ReadSpeed as is (though it would easily fit onto a diskette image.) And logging would not work, obviously. You could use the /nolog option to suppress the inevitable write error at the end. I'll see what I can do...
Tried it but when I try and burn the ISO I get "Selected disk image is not valid" any thoughts?This .ISO will hopefully boot your Dell (emulates 1.44 MB bootable diskette image using a ramdisk for output)
(burn to CD/DVD)
Press Enter when you see the splash screen and Readspeed will start.
RSRAM.ISO (also will boot on Macintosh if it has a cd/dvd)
1.83 MB file on MEGA
mega.nz
ISO