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DNS Benchmark v2 Release 5 with Consultant License Guest:
If you own any earlier release of our DNS Benchmark you may immediately download its release #5 replacement. Running an earlier release will detect the new release and help you upgrade.
Although this release is cosmetic, appearance matters and affects ease of use. The biggest change, as seen in the image above, is that the DNS Benchmark now has a traditional Windows application menu to more fully expose its many features. This release is also "Consultant License Aware" and GRC will now issue a Consultant version when owners have previously purchased four "Personal Use" licenses. If you have previously purchased four DNSB licenses, or if you wish to upgrade your "Personal Use" license to Consultant, GRC's purchase process will direct you through that process.
/Steve. -
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!
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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.)
Mind you, in 1990 or so, I used what I believe was version 1.0 of SpinRite, on my BBS HD. I didn't own the license at the time unfortunately. I do recall it ran from 5.25" floppy disk.
@PHolder That's old school. I remember those. This is slightly OT but, regarding nostalgia, I worked at Delta Air Lines in 1988 as a Flight Simulator Technician. At the time they had, I think, a few 8" floppy disks floating around. Also, They had removable multi platter disk packs that were 80 MB or 300 MB and 15" across, reel to reel tape, and a DC8 simulator that was programmed with punched cards. How things have changed. Not trying to hijack this thread. So, if we want to beat those topics to death, we could start a new thread I guess.
May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast.
Ron
I recently put together a magic routine where I go through a short history of removable media. I end with punch cards and ask my volunteers to write something on the back that would fit into 1/3 of a tweet (80 bytes). I also mention how my wife noticed over the years that as storage became smaller the amount the storage could hold became larger.
Itemized Software Purchase Receipt
from Gibson Research Corporation
2003‐08‐14 at 16:40 UTC
Product(s) purchased:
Qty 1 of SpinRite 5.0 (now 6.0!) (First time purchaser)
/threadjack...
With talk of 5.25" drives I decided to have some fun with old hardware last night. I think this is my oldest SpinRite... v1.2b.
I tried hard to get true screen grabs... DOS PowerTools "Capture" for ANSI graphics grabs onto 5.25" DSDD / 360K then copied onto 1.44 floppy then to USB attached 1.44 drive into DOSbox on a current computer but they weren't perfect so I just grabbed a camera to photo a few screens.
threadjack/
With talk of 5.25" drives I decided to have some fun with old hardware last night. I think this is my oldest SpinRite... v1.2b.
I tried hard to get true screen grabs... DOS PowerTools "Capture" for ANSI graphics grabs onto 5.25" DSDD / 360K then copied onto 1.44 floppy then to USB attached 1.44 drive into DOSbox on a current computer but they weren't perfect so I just grabbed a camera to photo a few screens.
threadjack/
Attachments
I remember having to c:/>park before shutting off the power.
Color-emulating monochrome displays? Oh, that would have been nice... maybe. As it was, I was stuck with the very high-resolution (for the time) Hercules monochrome display (green on black for me).
A TSR CGA emulator allowed me to run Escape from Monkey Island/etc. demos on that HUGE 20MB HDD.
For gaming, I much preferred my colorful (and with nice audio) Atari 8bit computer... and left the Leading Edge (brand) IBM PC-compatible for my mom to do her work with. 7.14 MHz turbo mode! woohoo!
I remember wanting SpinRite very badly, mostly for 5 1/4" floppies. As a kid, I couldn't afford it. I think I salivated quite a bit, though.
Color-emulating monochrome displays? Oh, that would have been nice... maybe. As it was, I was stuck with the very high-resolution (for the time) Hercules monochrome display (green on black for me).
A TSR CGA emulator allowed me to run Escape from Monkey Island/etc. demos on that HUGE 20MB HDD.
For gaming, I much preferred my colorful (and with nice audio) Atari 8bit computer... and left the Leading Edge (brand) IBM PC-compatible for my mom to do her work with. 7.14 MHz turbo mode! woohoo!
I remember wanting SpinRite very badly, mostly for 5 1/4" floppies. As a kid, I couldn't afford it. I think I salivated quite a bit, though.
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I seem to recall IBM having an Amber/White combo I saw at work. I recall it being a largish tube display that was split into four smaller displays... with four different mainframe apps in each display. (Maybe/probably the display wasn't doing anything special, it was whatever was driving it between the mainframe and the display.)
Screen Thief could be worth a try: https://www.grc.com/dev/SpinRite/DOS_Screen_Thief_TSR_v2.04f.zip
NewbyAmateurs
Of course due to changes in hardware, etc., it has been useless for my needs for at least 3+ years, so what if I need to wait 2 or 3 more years for an useable version.
3 years ago, this stopped it cold, do not have anything it will run on though I have needed it multiple times. Trash the drive, buy another, and where is that windows.iso?
Well the image won't upload, but it's a "MBR followed by EFI" error... and we're done. Multiple drives, multiple computers. This was a 1GB drive.
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I haven't been able to run SpinRite since I purchased my Surface Book 1 (I'm on Surface Book 3 currently). I can't complain though. It was worth the price as it got me out of several jams when I could run it. I will purchase 7.x when it can run under UEFI and my USB 3 connected external HDD.
I used it through work from very early versions, on 5¼" floppy days, when an 80MB drive was a monster. My personal copy has recovered multiple drives over the years.
But for years now totally useless. The first time it failed for me was on a rather mundane laptop with a 500 GB drive. Nothing exotic, no big drives, just a somewhat run-of-the-mill Dell laptop. I contacted GRC support, and they just confirmed it won't work, got wait for the next version... well that was over 3 years ago.
I get that Steve was off on his SQRL thing, but lots of people were left out here to dry with a tool we had learned to depend on that is totally useless on newer hardware.
And while SQRL is complete, and apparently a fantastic tool, it is totally useless since I haven't seen a site that supports it, except grc.com.
Thanks. At my urging, Lorrie kept her last name. She's a professional who's known by her colleagues and clients by her last name. And I have zero ego associated with her taking my name. In fact, at this stage in our lives, it would feel sort of weird.
CONGRATS! Same here when we got married 25 years ago. My wife was also a business professional at the time and her family was well known in those business circles. I've never had a problem with it. I've long since gotten over people sometimes calling me by her last name. Seems arcane in this day in age for a woman to have to change her name, not to mention a real pain as far as all the paperwork.
My favorite marriage anecdote: As my aunt tells it, when she and my uncle got married, for the first 3 months, she was his legal guardian. 
