Running SpinRite on a secondary machine

[garyrimar]

Greetings all. First time poster.

SpinRite runs fine on my main person computer. But, it takes up the computer as a resource for a long time.

I'm not without other computers. I have a Surface Pro II tablet (which runs ARM). I have an ASUS Win10 machine (which for some reason won't boot from the USB port). I have work machines in my house, but I'm not allowed to attach anything to those. I have iPads and a USB adapter, but that's not going to work.

Is there a way to run SpinRite 6.1 inside a VM where I can attach USB devices, so I can have use of my computer while running SpinRite in the background?

 

[PHolder]

SpinRite 6.1 inside a VM where I can attach USB devices

In theory yes. In practice, you want to avoid using USB at all costs whenever possible. SpinRite 6.x doesn't have it's own USB drivers, and is using the BIOS of the machine to support USB, and this comes with a bunch of potential downsides. (Sector limits, potential corruption, slower working, requirements to attach the device at power on, and probably others.)

If you really want a "dedicated" device, and are willing to disassemble your PC with the device you want to test, you could spend $100US or so and get a ZimaBoard to use as your dedicated SpinRite device. (This is the device @Steve uses for his SpinRite development.) If you go this route, you also should pick up a stronger power supply to provide enough power to spin up the HDD.

 

[garyrimar]

In theory yes. In practice, you want to avoid using USB at all costs whenever possible. SpinRite 6.x doesn't have it's own USB drivers, and is using the BIOS of the machine to support USB, and this comes with a bunch of potential downsides. (Sector limits, potential corruption, slower working, requirements to attach the device at power on, and probably others.)

If you really want a "dedicated" device, and are willing to disassemble your PC with the device you want to test, you could spend $100US or so and get a ZimaBoard to use as your dedicated SpinRite device. (This is the device @Steve uses for his SpinRite development.) If you go this route, you also should pick up a stronger power supply to provide enough power to spin up the HDD.

Thanks for your reply.

I’m not ready to buy still more gear. I have laptops. The hard drives are portable and come in cases; I’m not sure if I void my warranty if I open the cases.

A way to solve my concern is if I can run the hard drive check as a background process, or run it on one of my other machines, which would include an Asus laptop (I don’t know why it can’t boot from the flash drive) or a VM, which would at least require drivers to help it see the USB. Even if I can come up with MS-DOS 6.22 on a VM (a bit of a stretch for me), I’m not sure if SR61 will run on it, or if it is tethered to FreeDOS.

Any thoughts or guidance are welcome.

 

[PHolder]

Do any of your machines have multiple drives in them? If they do not, then you're proposing to use the drive to host a VM while it's being inspected by SpinRite. This is a dangerous proposition. If the drive is not attached by a PATA, SATA or AHCI connection, then SpinRite will not have native drivers, and will be requiring the support of the BIOS. The BIOS in this case would be inside the virtual machine, and would probably not be optimal because it's generic and not really expected to be used by an of the OSes the VM is meant to host. (Windows and MacOS and Linux all bring along their own drivers, avoiding use of the BIOS beyond the initial bootstrapping.)

In the end, if you don't know how to do this already, I suspect you are requesting help to do something that will be a danger to your media.

 

[DanR]

The hard drives are portable and come in cases; I’m not sure if I void my warranty if I open the cases.

Most likely you would.

A way to solve my concern is if I can run the hard drive check as a background process

A future SpinRite 7.x version will very likely be able lo do this. But SpinRite 6.1, being a DOS app, cannot.

an Asus laptop (I don’t know why it can’t boot from the flash drive)

I presume you have thoroughly explored the BIOS setup on The Asus LT looking for any USB boot option to enable and/or configure.

a VM, which would at least require drivers to help it see the USB. Even if I can come up with MS-DOS 6.22 on a VM (a bit of a stretch for me), I’m not sure if SR61 will run on it, or if it is tethered to FreeDOS.

A VM adds an additional layer of abstraction (distraction? ) between SpinRite and the hardware SpinRite is trying to work on. Generally not recommended for SpinRite 6.1.

SpinRite 6.1 might work with MS DOS 6.22, but GRC does not officially support that. There may however be DOS experts here in the forums who can help.

Even if you had a PC with a BIOS capable of seeing and accessing an external USB drive, such access (for SpinRite 6.1) will be via/through the system BIOS, with all the various limitations and issues applicable to this BIOS access (very s-l-o-w BIOS I/O speed, capacity limits, etc.).

 

[AlanD]

I have an ASUS Win10 machine (which for some reason won't boot from the USB port).

Does this Asus have a CD drive? You could boot SR from a CD and run it on there if you can find a way to attach teh drives that you want to check. However, it will be slower if they are connected via USB, and may not be able to "see" large drives.

 

[garyrimar]

Most likely you would.

A future SpinRite 7.x version will very likely be able lo do this. But SpinRite 6.1, being a DOS app, cannot.

I presume you have thoroughly explored the BIOS setup on The Asus LT looking for any USB boot option to enable and/or configure.


A VM adds an additional layer of abstraction (distraction? ) between SpinRite and the hardware SpinRite is trying to work on. Generally not recommended for SpinRite 6.1.

SpinRite 6.1 might work with MS DOS 6.22, but GRC does not officially support that. There may however be DOS experts here in the forums who can help.

Even if you had a PC with a BIOS capable of seeing and accessing an external USB drive, such access (for SpinRite 6.1) will be via/through the system BIOS, with all the various limitations and issues applicable to this BIOS access (very s-l-o-w BIOS I/O speed, capacity limits, etc.).

Thank you for reading and understanding my request.

I don’t care if SR spends days (versus a day and a half) checking the drive if I can use the computer for other tasks.

Maybe I’ll see if I can get the VM set up first. I don’t want SR to toast the drive in that configuration, which is why I was asking here first.

Again, thanks. And, if anyone cares to weigh in with experience around what I’m trying to do, whether good or bad, that insight would be most welcome (even if I don’t necessarily like the answer).

 

[garyrimar]

Does this Asus have a CD drive? You could boot SR from a CD and run it on there if you can find a way to attach teh drives that you want to check. However, it will be slower if they are connected via USB, and may not be able to "see" large drives.

That laptop doesn’t have an Internet CD. I do have an external CD, and the laptop does have two USB ports. Maybe for grins and giggles I should see if it will boot from a CD where it won’t boot from a USB. It’d be strange, but I’ve seen stranger stuff.

Thanks.

 

[PHolder]

@Steve

You really should put a CLEAR indication on the site or in the documentation or FAQ that SpinRite desires EXCLUSIVE access to a disk to do its thing, so as to make it clear that users trying to circumvent this restriction are doing so at their own peril.

 

[TProbst67]

That laptop doesn’t have an Internet CD. I do have an external CD, and the laptop does have two USB ports. Maybe for grins and giggles I should see if it will boot from a CD where it won’t boot from a USB. It’d be strange, but I’ve seen stranger stuff.

Thanks.

Hi @garyrimar

Say, If you post the model info of your ASUS Win10 laptop, we may be able to research the booting options on that machine and why you're unable to boot off of USB.

Regards,
Thomas

 

[garyrimar]

Hi @garyrimar

Say, If you post the model info of your ASUS Win10 laptop, we may be able to research the booting options on that machine and why you're unable to boot off of USB.

Regards,
Thomas

Thanks. I’ll dig it a little further before I come here for that kind of help but I do appreciate it.

 

[Fuzzball]

@garyrimar, to boot to a Spinrite drive, whether it be on a USB or CDROM, the computer BIOS must be configured to allow LEGACY boot. No forced Secure Boot nor UEFI boot. Many newer machines do not allow that, which is likely why @TProbst67 was asking the model of the machine.

 

[garyrimar]

@garyrimar, to boot to a Spinrite drive, whether it be on a USB or CDROM, the computer BIOS must be configured to allow LEGACY boot. No forced Secure Boot nor UEFI boot. Many newer machines do not allow that, which is likely why @TProbst67 was asking the model of the machine.

That makes sense.

I was able disable secure boot but it still didn’t work. It is an Asus ax201ngw. I didn’t see Comparability Support Mode, but I figured it was me needing to look again later.

My complaint is how long it ties up my computer. My computer does have USB-C. I’m not sure if the drives support it. If I can figure out a way to either run it faster or as a background process, I’d probably be satisfied. Currently a 2TB usb drive is taking close to two days to run at level 3, and SR isn’t finding anything to fix (a good thing).

 

[DanR]

I was able disable secure boot but it still didn’t work. It is an Asus ax201ngw. I didn’t see Comparability Support Mode, but I figured it was me needing to look again later.

It looks like it has CSM compatibility mode.

 

[DanR]

My complaint is how long it ties up my computer. My computer does have USB-C. I’m not sure if the drives support it. If I can figure out a way to either run it faster or as a background process, I’d probably be satisfied. Currently a 2TB usb drive is taking close to two days to run at level 3, and SR isn’t finding anything to fix (a good thing).

USB C is irrelevant to SpinRite 6.1 because SR 6.1 USB access is via the s-l-o-w BIOS only. There is NO WAY to speed that up with SR 6.1.