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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Driv Size Drive Identity Location: 0 25% 50% 75% 100
---- ----- ---------------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
81 250GB Samsung SSD 840 Series 94.5 78.8 154.9 201.2 129.2
82 3.0TB TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 188.6 181.0 164.3 137.7 96.7
Here's the output when I run "rs.exe /ident":
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ReadSpeed: Hyper-accurate mass storage read-performance benchmark. rel 1 |
| Benchmarked values are in megabytes read per second at five locations. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
AHCI '.' and IDE '-' drive reset & diagnostic latencies in milliseconds:
61.605 61.623
Associating BIOS drive [80-82]:
[ 80 81! 82! ]
BIOS drive count: 3
BIOS Inter Bus Location Dev Port Intr
---- ----- --- -------- --- ---- ----
80 USB PCI 0:29:0 10
BIOS Location Type Clas Pg Vend Devi Prt Intr Cmmd Ctrl Mast Driv Link Size
---- -------- ---- ---- -- ---- ---- --- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -----
81 0:31:2 AHCI 0106 01 8086 8C02 0 3 < AHCI Cntrl > 6.0 6.0 250GB
82 0:31:2 AHCI 0106 01 8086 8C02 1 3 < AHCI Cntrl > 6.0 6.0 3.0TB
Benchmarked: Sunday, 2021-01-31 at 19:21
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See the ReadSpeed forums at forums.grc.com for help and community support.