Move drive to old PC with legacy boot

[Scott216]

I have a hard drive (SATA3) I want to test, but my computer will only boot UEFI (ThinkStation P520c circa 2020). I have an older PC that I can run SpinRite on. Can I remove my hard drive from the ThinkStation and plug it into my older PC and then run SpinRite on it?

 

[ColbyBouma]

Yes. If it will be a lot of work to move the drive, it may be worth it to verify SpinRite will boot on the older machine first.

 

[Scott216]

Thanks. I have confirmed SpinRite runs on my older PC

 

[Esso]

That's the question, isn't it? A guide for "Newest Old" hardware that simply runs Spinrite (current v6.1 release 4) without any modification. That would be useful until we get the next-gen SR under UEFI. And external USB also, since its all pie-in-the-sky right now.

 

[peterblaise]

Yes, there are many criteria for running
SpinRite 6.1 on any drive:

- does the computer offer a compatible CMOS
BIOS ( or UEFI and Windows to Go or Linux and
a VM Virtual Machine running FreeDOS and
SpinRite ),

- can it boot to a FreeDOS and SpinRite 6.1
drive - diskette, USB, CD, even HDD ( ! ),
including adapters to move the diskette drive
between the making computer and the booting
computer,

- can the drive to be tested attach internally
as IDE ATA PATA SATA SCSI SAS ( for prior
MFM/RLL drives, use prior SpinRite 5 ),

- are there workable adapters to convert PATA
to SATA or SATA to PATA ( with jumpers for
Primary versus Secondary ) or NVMe to USB, or
M.2 SATA to SATA, and so on,

- if the drive to be tested is only USB, does
the CMOS BIOS present the drive at all, as
full size, or does the computer limit USB to
137 GB as a maximum test range ( better
than nothing ),

- do keyboards and screens attach and stay
working throughout a SpinRite run without
blanking, are they able to recover from screen
blanking,

- can you build a boot drive for FreeDOS and
SpinRite.

- - - - -

There is no manufacturer or vendor or shop
that knows all of those criteria.

We have to "buy it and try it".

I keep a variety of older computers and
adapters and boot drives just in case I need
to recover ANY data, and maintain ANY drive
that comes my way.

And I still struggle.

And I still do not know the limits of the
computers I use.

And I'm always acquiring more adapters.

And more different old spare computers.

So even if I offered a list of what I've got, it
may not assist anyone else in acquiring an
equivalent computer, especially if their
criteria is different in any way.

And so, we struggle.

Yet, we all seem to accomplish so much.

Good for us.