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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!
/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.)
So share the LOG and let us look over your shoulder.
Thanks.
Type|Port|BIOS|Runtime|Size| Model | Serial ----+----+----+-------+----+------------------------------+------------------- AHCI| 2 | 81 | 46,655|1.0T|WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0 |WD-WCC6Y3UTPD0K AHCI| 3 | 82 | 46,619|1.0T|WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0 |WD-WCC6Y2VCEU9D BIOS| 80 | 80 | ... | 62G|This is the system boot drive | BIOS| 83 | 83 | ... |250G| NVMe drive | BIOS| 84 | 84 | ... |1.0T| USB drive | BIOS| 85 | 85 | ... |503G| USB drive | Ahh.
@DanR "... SpinRite 6.1 sees this as a BIOS drive ..."
Right!
So, remove everything BUT the boot USB drive, and only the
NVMe-as-BIOS drive, and test again.
If the NVME-as-BIOS drive then shows up for ReadSpeed, then the
computer's BIOS and or FreeDOS is/are unable to present that
NVMe-as-BIOS if and when it's part of a complex array of drives.
Both BIOS and FreeDOS expect only a single boot source per 'bus'
to turn over to a 'higher' operating system, such as modern
Windows, so the BIOS programmers never thought to search, nor
were paid to search, for everything, really.
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Also, try using MS-DOS via a RUFUS-built [ https://rufus.ie/en/ ]
USB boot drive, put ReadSpeed on it, and see if ReadSpeed
'sees' the NVME-as-BIOS that way.
In other words, you're troubleshooting your BIOS and your DOS.
Why does SpinRite 'work', but ReadSpeed does not?
Since SpinRite, like Windows, has some of it's own drivers, it has
ways of bypassing a limitation from BIOS and DOS.
ReadSpeed depends exclusively on the presentation from BIOS
and DOS, having no 'drivers' of it's own.
Let us know what you find.
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And ... since the NVMe shows up as BIOS, it may only be seen on
it's own if and when you boot from a non-BIOS drive, such as
installing a boot FreeDOS or MS-DOS and ReadSpeed on a SATA
drive, and boot from that.
SpinRite works under FreeDOS, not MS-DOS unless ... ask - we
have ways! ;-).
Because it is an NVMe drive!!!
SpinRite and ReadSpeed only have AHCI and ATA/IDE native drivers. ReadSpeed does not work thru the BIOS (there is no point in doing this). Thus ReadSpeed cannot access this NVMe drive. It can only detect it, and report that it is NVMe. That's all RS can do.
SpinRite sees this drive as a BIOS 83 drive. SpinRite can see, access, and scan this NVMe drive via the BIOS albeit at abominably s-l-o-w BIOS I/O speeds.
I think it’s the opposite, Peter. As I recall, ReadSpeed was developed mostly as a test bed for the native AHCI drivers that eventually went into SpinRite. It didn’t go through the BIOS for drive access.
SpinRite can access drives through the BIOS as well as via its native drivers.
Not necessarily a full opposite, but an explanation of why ReadSpeed
can't see NVMe-as-BIOS.
Thanks.
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