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.
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Thanks. I thought about this. I am looking at Ebay now as well since I would like to keep this as cheap as possible (ideally < $200) total. I see a lot of micro PCs in that range, but they don't have SATA.
pcpartpicker.com
Thanks for the detailed help.I went through PC Part Picker and chose the lowest priced items that had a brand name I would consider. Here's the summary:
PC Builder - AMD Ryzen 5 5600G, Rosewill FBM-X2 MicroATX Mini Tower - PCPartPicker
PC Builder - AMD Ryzen 5 5600G, Rosewill FBM-X2 MicroATX Mini Tower
If you put it in a case, I would additionally look for a single bay drive sled that supports hot swapping the drives you want to test, just to make your life easier.
That's technically up to the MOBO manufacturer. I haven't yet heard of an AMD MOBO that doesn't support a CSM/BIOS but I'm sure someone will get there sooner or later. It would make sense on the AM5 break to do this, because of the switch to PCI5 and DDR5 and USB4, etc... as well as the new enclave project with MS... lots of new changes so why not throw one more in.
Actually, even cheaper, might be a Pico (from the Raspberry Pi Foundation). It's meant for embedded devices, so not meant to have a screen or anything, but you CAN add a touch screen for a few bucks. I'm sure you could probably add a disk controller for a few bucks too. The nice thing about it is that it's very small, not very powerful, so not a lot of cooling needed, and very cost effective. I envision a Spin Rite dongle that you could connect to any PC... and it would work like a VM to house the low level code in a way it can work with any other PC.
Yeah, that is essentially what I did. Computer is supposed to come today, so we'll see.
Ron
Yeah I might try that later, but I was hoping to avoid erasing the disk. I ordered a restore from BackBlaze and a replacement drive, so once I am back in business I might try that.It's been a long time since I've built a PC, but are you talking about the 2 TB limit? Maybe you can partition the drive into multiple 2 TB chunks and they would show up as separate drives in SR. If that's all wet, please forgive.
May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast.
