I've got a disk that is failing that I'm trying to recover long enough to get data off. S.M.A.R.T. keeps taking it offline so I thought I would try switching to level 5; seems like I remember a guy running spinrite for 9 months or something like that and it finally got through and the disk was repaired. I switched to level 5 for an overnight run, but then changed my mind. I decided to turn off S.M.A.R.T monitoring and run spinrite again on level 2. I couldn't cancel spinrite from the menu though. It seemed determined to finish that sector. Just thought I would pass it along.
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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.
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Move on to the current SpinRite 6.1 pre-release, SRPR-RC5 - I found the controls to be more responsive.
I also consider 'conservative' command line options, like FORCEBIOS and DYNASTAT 1.
Let us know how it works for you.
I also use supplemental cooling fans to keep the drive at room temperature, and I remove and replace the drive's circuit board and clean the contacts underneath.
Thanks.
Doesn't the SpinRite 6.1 command line option FORCEBIOS use the BIOS drivers that have no S.M.A.R.T. savvy?
Thanks.
Yes, but I recommend against using it unless absolutely necessary.
@Tokendude I'm not sure what you're referring to. Can you share the full error message, please? A screenshot would be best, even if it's a picture of your monitor from your phone.
Why did you do that?
Was the drive not working?
Generally if the drive is working the PCB is connecting fine to the rest of the drive.
Yes, considering SpinRite's prime goals:
- data recovery
- drive maintenance
FORCEBIOS may also be helpful in data recovery from those shy sectors, who knows?
Backup is so easy, cheap, and plentiful, that I hardly ever need data recovery anymore, so I have not inspected sector contents to see if the contents of any sectors brought back to usefulness via FORCEBIOS have any meaningful prior content.
So long as the drive is reliable afterward, I'm happy.
Plus, in this case, we're testing SpinRite 6.1 pre-release under development, so exercising every SpinRite option makes sense.
Right?
Thanks.
There is often corrosion, dirt, and dust, at the contacts, and I've seen brown circuitry and brown insulation pads indicating a history of overheating.
I take off the circuit board first, for any drive that is new to me, even new drives fresh from vendors.
Performing data recovery and drive maintenance before checking and remedying all of those compromises seems fruitless.
I have often brought drives back to reliability after ONLY cleaning the circuit board contacts.
While I'm there, I coat the contacts with Caig DeOxIt https://caig.com/deoxit-d-series/ to micro-clean and preserve them, I refresh any thermal paste, and remove any 'insulator' sound-deadener foam because I find they reduce cooling airflow.
Have you tried a later pre-release version of SpinRite 6.1 under development to see if @Steve Gibson has remedied your observation that SpinRite ignored keyboard input after a while?
Tell us more.
Thanks.
This is normal behavior when running SpinRite at level 5.
When a level 5 run is interrupted via the keyboard, and SpinRite is doing an inverted data write to the drive, there will be a delayed response from SpinRite, in order to preserve data integrity.
SpinRite must
- Finish the inverted write
- Read the data back
- Re-invert the data back to normal
- Write the normal data back to the drive, thus maintaining data integrity on the drive.
Until all of this is done, there will be no response to an interruption request from the keyboard. SpinRite will respond only when the data has been restored and it is safe to do so.
I found the error screen I believe you are referring to. This screenshot will not match exactly because I got this error to pop up by exploiting a bug in Alpha versions before 23.
Colby: I'm not following. Is this a new problem you've just found or an old and long dead problem? (I'm SURE you'll post something in GitLab if it's an issue for us now!
Sorry, my quoting probably wasn't clear. I asked @Tokendude about the error screen they encountered. They haven't replied yet, so I replied to my question with that screenshot I found.Colby: I'm not following. Is this a new problem you've just found or an old and long dead problem? (I'm SURE you'll post something in GitLab if it's an issue for us now!
I found the error screen I believe you are referring to. This screenshot will not match exactly because I got this error to pop up by exploiting a bug in Alpha versions before 23.
If you're talking about the corruption bug, that's something you fixed in Alpha 23. In versions prior to that, you can get all sorts of fun graphical anomalies (and crashes) by putting invalid values in the .CFG file with a hex editor, then browsing the Settings window. This also causes a lot of the red error windows to pop up, which is turning out to be quite useful
AH! Okay. Thanks!
Part of the bizarreness you're seeing is due to SpinRite's windowing system being “smart” about the way it draws its frames. (It's “smart” right up until it's not.) The windowing system uses the context of what it's drawing over to control what it does. This allows for many shortcuts in the system when all goes well. But it also means that when screens occur that aren't expected things don't go well.
Part of the bizarreness you're seeing is due to SpinRite's windowing system being “smart” about the way it draws its frames. (It's “smart” right up until it's not.) The windowing system uses the context of what it's drawing over to control what it does. This allows for many shortcuts in the system when all goes well. But it also means that when screens occur that aren't expected things don't go well.
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