Need Periodic Write in Log File

[vajiggle]

I've had 2 separate PC's crash (shut down) during some long 48+ hr Level 3+ jobs.

Not sure why. i'm assuming power supply failure, cobwebs, bad ram, or some other built-in safety protocols.

Unfortunately the Log Files for the jobs are blank. File created with date stamp name, but blank.

Is there a way to turn on 'periodic write' to the logs?

My temp solution is going to be a camera in front of the monitor set for time-lapse to capture pre crash data.

 

[DanR]

Periodic writes to a log file is SpinRite’s default.

See: Main Menu> 2 View or Change Settings > 2 Log system reports and activity > Yes

Please be sure this is set to Yes

There are two (2) exceptions:

- The boot media is not writable (e.g. CD or DVD). The data log will be accumulated in RAM during the test, viewable via the L-R keys (to the Real Time Activities (RTA) screen) during the test or at the end of the test before exiting SpinRite.

- The writable USB flash boot drive is being scanned. The data log will be accumulated in RAM during the test, viewable via the L-R keys (to the RTA screen) during the test . When the scan is complete, the log will then be written to the boot drive.

In either case a crash during the test would result in the loss of all log data accumulated in RAM.

 

[vajiggle]

In my case, logs set to yes.
I've reviewed completed successful and unsuccessful scans.
Also I don't scan the booting drive.

Am I right in understanding, logs are stored/written only in RAM until completion?

 

[DanR]

Logs should be written incrementally as events are completed. As a minimum I would expect to see the enumeration data, and the detailed drive data for the drive being scanned.

The GSD and S.M.A.R.T. data would not be written until the scan is successfully completed. A crash during the scan would lose this data.

 

[DrBunsen]

I believe that the log files are not written incrementally, but are instead written after hitting ESC at the end of a testing session, and here is my (semi-unfortunate) evidence.

TLDR: Hopefully SpinRite v7 will be changed so that it writes to the log file when the testing session is finished, rather than when ESC is hit after the testing session is finished, so that if a hardware error prevents the user from hitting ESC, the results will have already been written to the log file.

I purchased a few used 12TB drives on eBay, and am almost through testing them using level 5, which takes almost exactly 4 days. I'm doing the testing on more than one PC, and two of them are connected to a 4-port USB KVM. I noticed yesterday that the keyboard wasn't allowing me to switch SpinRite screens for one of the PCs. That doesn't happen often (maybe once a year), but I didn't worry about it since I could see that SpinRite was otherwise working properly (i.e. the PC wasn't locked up). I checked back a little bit ago, and SpinRite had gotten to the green floating window that said that SpinRite had completed its activities. But like yesterday, I couldn't use the keyboard to switch to the results screens. I tried disconnecting/reconnecting the USB connections, switching to the othe USB/VGA connectors, etc. but it was no-go on seeing the results information.

I'd seen the log files in the past, and figured that SpinRite would've written to the log file for this session, since it had completed activities. So I turned off the PC, and put the USB drive into my main PC. The SRLOGS folder has three files, 0.LOG (created July 10, and last modified July 12), 1.LOG (created July 12 and last modified July 17), and 2.LOG (created and last modified at the same time (to the second), on July 17). The first two files have good log information, but that last one, the one I wanted, is a zero byte file which was created and last modified at the same time, 4 days ago. I ran chkdsk /f on the flash drive in case the file had been written to but not properly closed, but chkdsk reported no problems.

DanR has said that periodic writes is the default, but I don't think that that's what actually happens (and I didn't change it away from the default). Like I said at the top of this post, I think that, instead of the log file being written to incrementally, or even at the end of the testing session's activities, it's actually written to after hitting ESC at the end of the testing session. Here are the clues for this assertion...

The 0.LOG file was created on July 10, 2024 at 12:58:46pm, and at the beginning of the log it says "SpinRite Detailed Technical Log generated at 12:58 pm on Jul 10th, 2024", so that matches up. At the bottom of the file, it says "SpinRite 6.1, level 5 operation completed at 10:07 am on Jul 11th, 2024." However, the file's modified time/date says that it was last modified the next day, on July 12, 2024, at 11:03:58pm, which is more than a day and a half after SpinRite completed testing, and which is (if my memory is correct), when I checked the status of the session, and hit ESC. And since nothing was written to the most recent log file, even though the testing session had completed today, the log file wasn't written, probably because it wasn't possible for me to hit ESC.

So now I have the #FirstWorldProblem of having to invest another 4 days in testing this drive (on level 5), and hope that I don't lose keyboard control again. OH THE HORROR! <== Joke.