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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.
(You may permanently close this reminder with the 'X' in the upper right.)
The bottom line appears to be that "S.M.A.R.T." data is often meaningless to the layperson. Unless you know how the drive manufacturer is using it, don't jump to conclusions. There may be no need for alarm.
It's in seconds with a lot of decimals. And, yes, that makes me quite suspicious about that 2nd HGST drive, too, since 599.969 is obviously 600 seconds—which is ten minutes—which looks suspiciously like a timeout, either by SpinRite or by the drive. I was going to ask @TAC for the model number of the drive since I'd be glad to obtain one to see what's up with it.
@TAC : Could you share the model number of that 2nd HGST drive? While the benchmark was running, compared with the other drives did that SMART Polling Delay phase just crawl along? One thing you could do, which some of our testers were doing to clarify behavior questions, was to make a short video with your phone, post it to YouTube, then post the link here. Thanks!!
It's milliseconds, not seconds. Here's a snippet from one of my logs:
|==========================================================================|
| Performance Benchmarks |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| smart polling delay: 16.662 msec |
| random sectors time: 11.965 msec |
| front of drive rate: 267.154 MB/s |
| midpoint drive rate: 240.226 MB/s |
| end of drive rate: 127.704 MB/s |
|==========================================================================|