FAT32

[Itspaulex]

I have an Asus Vivo laptop which will only boot from a FAT32 formatted thumb drive. Is there a way to configure Spin-Rite to create a boot thumb drive in fat32 format?

 

[AlanD]

SR was originally designed to be run from floppies, which used FAT-12 or FAT-16. I cannot see any reason why you could not pre-format a USB as FAT32, and then copy ALL the contents ( including hidden files) from an SR created USB to the FAT32 one.

 

[ColbyBouma]

SpinRite already formats its boot drives as FAT32. If your computer refuses to boot from it, then your motherboard is probably UEFI. If it is:

1. Check to see if BitLocker is enabled. If it is, back up your encryption key!
2. See if you can enable CSM and disable Secure Boot in your UEFI settings. Many newer computers no longer have these options.
3. Make sure to revert anything you changed before booting back into Windows.

https://forums.grc.com/threads/how-to-boot-and-run-spinrite-6-x-on-csm-capable-uefi-machines.968/

 

[AlanD]

SpinRite already formats its boot drives as FAT32.

I think that might depend on the size of the USB stick. When I checked mine, it was FAT16, but it is only a 128MB USB stick.

 

[Scott]

SR was originally designed to be run from floppies, which used FAT-12 or FAT-16. I cannot see any reason why you could not pre-format a USB as FAT32, and then copy ALL the contents ( including hidden files) from an SR created USB to the FAT32 one.

You can’t just copy freedos files to a USB and expect it to be bootable, you have to do a SYS command from a running DOS session to that drive to create a bootable MBR. Or initdisk or SpinRite setup will do it.

 

[DanR]

Or initdisk or SpinRite setup will do it.

So will ReadSpeed. https://www.grc.com/readspeed.htm

InitDisk: https://www.grc.com/initdisk.htm

 

[Itspaulex]

Thank you. I did verify that the SR thumb drive is FAT format. My Dell Inspiron 1300 boots to SR without issue. I havnt figure out what the Asus doesnt like. I turned off secure boot amd fast boot. On power up, the light on the thumb drive flashes for a quick instance, but then the system proceeds to boot to windows.

 

[DanR]

@Itspaulex

Could that laptop be UEFI booting? That could explain why SpinRite does not boot on that machine.

If the BIOS supports it, you would have to enable CSM and disable UEFI on that machine.

See https://forums.grc.com/threads/how-to-boot-and-run-spinrite-6-x-on-csm-capable-uefi-machines.968/ for more info.