Export thread

  • Be sure to checkout “Tips & Tricks”
    Dear Guest Visitor → Once you register and log-in please checkout the “Tips & Tricks” page for some very handy tips!

    /Steve.

  • 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.)

Spinrite on 500GB uefi drive.

#1

R

RyanH

Ive been sitting on this drive awhile. Its from a friend who lost a lot of pictures of his kids.

Anyways, its from a uefi windows 8 laptop. The laptop doesnt boot. I get the no boot media found screen.
Going into the settings, I see that the computer does recognize that there's a drive there. It has the Drive ID and correct size listed.
I can switch it to bios and get spinrite to boot. If disk mode is ATA, initdisk hangs. Eventually spinrite launches but says its a pirated copy (its not) and locks me out.
If i swich bios to ahci, spinrite boots right up, sees A drive...but it doesnt have any disk serial number or size info. When I try to run level 2 on it, it cant read sector 0 and kicks me out.

So is this a uefi issue that spinrite 6.1/7 will solve? Or is the disk just toast?

Thanks.


#2

Barry Wallis

Barry Wallis

You may want to check the SpinRite support page (the e-mail for support is at the bottom of the page).


#3

D

DanR

RyanH said:
If disk mode is ATA, initdisk hangs.
Click to expand...
What are you trying to InitDisk? A USB stick?


#4

P

PHolder

RyanH said:
So is this a uefi issue that spinrite 6.1/7 will solve? Or is the disk just toast?
Click to expand...
You said in the subject UEFI disk. What I think you're meaning is that it has a GPT partition rather than a MBR partition on it. This probably explains why SpinRite is having an issue. SpinRite 6.1 should be able to work with the disk, if the disk is mechanically sound.


#5

R

RyanH

DanR said:
What are you trying to InitDisk? A USB stick?
Click to expand...
No..I mean during the spinrite boot...freedos more specifically...it hangs with initdisk text written on the screen.


#6

R

RyanH

DiskTuna said:
Last thing you need, if you want to recover the data, is let anything hammer away on that drive.



Where? Key question is, if it is properly detected in disk management.

View attachment 390
Click to expand...
No, I cant get it to be recognized in the os on any of my computers (as a data or boot disk). I mean the BIOS screen shows the disk as recognized.
The laptop is my only uefi computer and it only has on board connections for 1 disk.


#7

R

RyanH

PHolder said:
You said in the subject UEFI disk. What I think you're meaning is that it has a GPT partition rather than a MBR partition on it. This probably explains why SpinRite is having an issue. SpinRite 6.1 should be able to work with the disk, if the disk is mechanically sound.
Click to expand...
This is what I meant. I guess Ill keep waiting. Any chance I should mess around with readspeed? just to see if the drive works?


#8

P

PHolder

RyanH said:
Any chance I should mess around with readspeed?
Click to expand...
Well as @DiskTuna said, if there is any risk the disk is physically damaged, you want to push it the least possible. If the problem is just a logical data format issue, there would be little risk running ReadSpeed against it. If your goal is data recovery, there would be little benefit either though.


#9

R

RyanH

PHolder said:
Well as @DiskTuna said, if there is any risk the disk is physically damaged, you want to push it the least possible. If the problem is just a logical data format issue, there would be little risk running ReadSpeed against it. If your goal is data recovery, there would be little benefit either though.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I guess I was just thinking of seeing if I could get readspeed to boot/run against the disk so I could see if its even worth waiting for the new spinrite. If readspeed cant handle it, then maybe I should just tell my friend the pics are gone for good. Theyve been waiting a couple years for the new spinrite..as have we all...


#10

D

DanR

RyanH said:
No..I mean during the spinrite boot...freedos more specifically...it hangs with initdisk text written on the screen.
Click to expand...
Ahh .. If I am now understanding correctly, what you are seeing is actually FreeDOS text on the screen when it hangs? InitDisk is not running at this point.
RyanH said:
Thanks, I guess I was just thinking of seeing if I could get readspeed to boot/run against the disk so I could see if its even worth waiting for the new spinrite. If readspeed cant handle it, then maybe I should just tell my friend the pics are gone for good. Theyve been waiting a couple years for the new spinrite..as have we all...
Click to expand...
ReadSpeed will not tell you much about the drive condition. RS is only a benchmark tool. It is not a a diagnostic tool, like SpinRite is. I'd say it is certainly worth waiting for SpinRite 6.1, which does not seem that far away now. I would not stress it with ReadSpeed.


#11

J

JimWilliamson

Reading a bit of the thread - some thoughts if this disk was in my hands. I'm not making any recommendation for this issue - just tossing some thoughts where some might (or not) be of use.

I'd ask the owner two questions:
1) How soon do you need or want this data to be available, if it could be made available?
2) Put a dollar value on this data. If this data could be recovered, how much would you pay to get it back?

The goal in the questions:
1) Do you wait for a yet-to-be-released version of SpinRite that can handle GPT drives (My assumption it's GPT)? If it's a low burn thing - consider shelving the drive until that version of SR is available.
2) If the dollar value of the data is lower than the cost of that version of SR (I'm assuming your time is being donated here), the project is at an end - return the drive - done. If the value is greater, then you might, consider sending the drive to a formal data recovery house. I have worked with three data recovery projects in my time. The costs were: $320, ~$700, and $1500. The latter two via Ontrack, both over 15 years ago. The first and last had the drives sent to the recovery vendor. On the middle project, the at-issue drive was slaved into an internet connected system and I connected the recovery tech into the system. Additionally, Ontrack has an "easy recovery" program that is worth looking at (I have never had the occasion to use it).

If I had this drive in my hands, I'd likely see if I could copy the at-issue partition onto a separate, empty drive and then work with that copied partition. Linux/Unix is likely what I'd use first - often booting a PC with the GPARTED live CD (www.gparted.org). Via Gnome Partition Editor I'd try to copy the data containing volume to a different drive (via the graphical interface). If it copies then I'd slave that copy into a working system to see if I could get to the needed data. If the graphical interface copy failed with errors I'd then try to 'force' the copy via unix terminal / command prompt with the NTFSCLONE command (I'm assuming this is an NTFS formatted partition). With stubborn copies, I use the "force" and "rescue" switches (NTFSCLONE --force --rescue --overwrite /dev/destination /dev/source). Always verify the proper order of the destination / source before hitting ENTER! The copy you end with, hopefully, will contain the data that is desired.

An option to Linux/Unix could be Macrium's Reflect drive / partition copier though I do not have experience with it on at-issue drives / partitions.

Lastly, I read it here and it stuck in the back of my mind - but I have not played with it - was a comment to back up and then blank out the ??partition table?? of the at-issue GPT drive. One could then run SpinRite on the drive, resolving issues - and then restore the blanked out ??partition table??. For that, I'd likely think Linux/Unix terminal prompt with the DD command could come to play. Does anyone here know where that comment was posted? Some additional info might be appreciated - I'd experiment with a play drive/data.

Best wishes.


#12

P

PHolder

JimWilliamson said:
back up and then blank out the ??partition table?? of the at-issue GPT drive. One could then run SpinRite on the drive, resolving issues - and then restore the blanked out ??partition table??.
Click to expand...
Yes, this will work with drives smaller than 2.2T or so on SpinRite 6. If you clear the GPT partition temporarily then it will look like an unformatted disk and SpinRite will work with it as such. This is a somewhat advanced technique, we don't recommend it to someone who cannot backup the data on the drive, in case something goes wrong. Since this drive needs recovery, it's not a good candidate for this, IMHO, as it has not been backed up.


#13

D

DanR

PHolder said:
This is a somewhat advanced technique, we don't recommend it to someone who cannot backup the data on the drive, in case something goes wrong. Since this drive needs recovery, it's not a good candidate for this, IMHO, as it has not been backed up.
Click to expand...
I totally agree. This advanced technique is not for the faint of heart, and is definitely not for this situation.
The OP should wait for SpinRite 6.1. Should only be months now. :) :unsure:


#14

Barry Wallis

Barry Wallis

DanR said:
Should only be months now.
Click to expand...
How did you determine this.


#15

D

DanR

Barry Wallis said:
How did you determine this.
Click to expand...
Well, Steve has been working on the final SR 6.1 code for a few months now. So, I just don't see it as being a year or more away. :unsure: But, that's just me.

There is, of course, no way to predict a completion date for Steve's work. And, then, there always seems to be unplanned distractions ... of one sort or another. :)


#16

M

Mervyn Haynes

DanR said:
And, then, there always seems to be unplanned distractions
Click to expand...
Sqrl anyone?!! That took 7 years


Top Bottom
Back