Looking for a Spinrite Machine

[Datsys]

Greetings All,
This is my first time posting here and I hope this is in the right place.

I am looking for a machine to dedicated use with Spinrite 6.0 & 6.1 mostly to scan laptop and M.2 drives. I am aware that Steve found something that seems to be a good solution but I can't afford that at the moment. I suspect that some members of this community may have found some decent alternatives that could be purchased off eBay so I am looking forward to suggestions or a link to previous responses to this situation.

Thanks.

 

[PHolder]

So you want a working machine for less than $150US? (The cost of the Zima board on Amazon, it was less than $120 the other day, check CamelCamelCamel so see if it might go on sale again https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKL4SRJT .) What might your budget be?

 

[Datsys]

Since we do a fair amount of refurbishing of laptops (mostly), we may well have parts to restore something or even have a unit that might work. I am suspecting the BIOS might be key to what I am looking for. Even it is listed on eBay as parts only, having an idea of which machine to look for would be a big help.

 

[rfrazier]

Wasn't there another thread about this topic not too long ago. Can't remember exactly.

May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast. Ron

 

[AlanD]

To run version 6.0 or 6.1, ideally you need an older machine which still allows you to disable Secure Boot and run things in "Legacy mode" or BIOS mode. You cannot boot 6.0 or 6.1 on a UEFI only machine.

Memory is not a great issue, Steve has said that 64MB is enough. I would also look for a board that has both SATA and PATA connectors if you are likely to want to test older disks. If it has M.2 slots as well, some M.2 devices can be seen through teh BIOS, although they may be slower. CPU is not a major issue, anything from a Pentium onwards should work.

 

[PHolder]

If it has M.2 slots as well

You have to be careful here, because there devices that offer M.2 that either do not support SATA (NVMe only) or only support SATA.

 

[JimWilliamson]

I'm only casually watching this thread. I went older desktop route for a dedicated SR machine - it was a to-be-recycled system so cost of zero. The primary downside is the space it consumes.

To the M.2 issue, I also have this PCI-e card - it handles SATA and NVMe M.2 drives:

Dual M.2 to PCIe Adapter, RIITOP M.2 NVMe SSD to PCIe Adapter & NGFF (B+M Key) SSD to SATA Controller Expansion Card for 1x NVMe SSD and 1x NGFF (SATA Based) SSD

Dual M.2 to PCIe Adapter, RIITOP M.2 NVMe SSD to PCIe Adapter & NGFF (B+M Key) SSD to SATA Controller Expansion Card for 1x NVMe SSD and 1x NGFF (SATA Based) SSD - Newegg.com

Buy Dual M.2 to PCIe Adapter, RIITOP M.2 NVMe SSD to PCIe Adapter & NGFF (B+M Key) SSD to SATA Controller Expansion Card for 1x NVMe SSD and 1x NGFF (SATA Based) SSD with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

It might give folks an option for the M.2 SATA/NVMe drives with a mobo that offers neither (when SR is able).