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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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Completely agree. But likely not SR 7.0 as that will have UEFI booting and native USB, NVMe driver support - urgently needed to address the major shortcomings of SpinRite 6.1. But a future SR 7.x version could potentially deliver on such a multi-tasking feature.
When you say in parallel, do you mean scanning drives in RAID? I thought that wasn’t possible. Hey AlanD, what’s shakin’
Nope! Not RAID.
I am talking multitasking with ordinary non-RAID drives. I perceive that is what AlanD is also talking about.
SpinRite 6.1, being a DOS app, has NO multitasking capability whatsoever.
SpinRite 7x, being a pure 32 bit app, will be able to mujltirask and in theory be able to scan two or more non-RAID drives at a time. That however is a long ways into the future.
So, yes, I meant test multiple individual drives all attached to the same system, all at the same time
And, seeing as were on the wish list wagon…. I will also add, continuing the scenario above, that each drive can be tested at its own Spinrite level.
E.g., let’s say 2 HDDs and 1 SSD are all attached to the same PC at the same time, and assume that Spintrite can test them all at the same time. It might be nice to set Spinrite level 1 for one HHD, Sprite level 4 for the other HDD and Spinrite level 3 for the SSD.
I’m sure there are more real world examples that could be devised but I hope I get the intent of the idea across.
Compare to https://www.dposoft.net/ "Multiple hard drives support" and https://www.hdsentinel.com/ "multiple hard disks / SSDs / hybrid drives (SSHD) in your computer (IDE / Serial ATA (S-ATA, e-SATA) / NVMe / SCSI / SAS / USB hard disks) or in an external enclosure".
From what I’m reading HDS is more for monitoring than repair, but good that it can watch all drives attached to a system.
Thanks for the links @peterblaise
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