Old Dell latitude laptops (D610/D410) load up and run Spinrite 6.1 without any issue, however no USB connected drives are recognised (including after cold reboot with drive(s) connected). Any suggestions as to how to make usb devices show on Spinrite device screen?
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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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Unfortunately, the system BIOS is the limiting factor here. On Dell machines the BIOS typically limits visibility to just the USB boot drive. 
Please see this article for more info: https://forums.grc.com/threads/usb-support-in-spinrite-6-1.1479/
Please see this article for more info: https://forums.grc.com/threads/usb-support-in-spinrite-6-1.1479/
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We can have SpinRite for Windows build a
SATA hard drive as the boot drive if we put
the SATA hard drive in a USB adapter.
Then remove the original Windows boot
SATA drive, swap the SpinRite SATA drive
into the boot drive, boot from it, and see if
SpinRite as run from that now internal SATA
boot drive then 'sees' ONE USB drive to test.
- - - - -
Does the computer have a CD drive, or
diskette drive?
Those are alternative SpinRite boot drives
that may leave ONE USB drive available
for SpinRite to test.
SATA hard drive as the boot drive if we put
the SATA hard drive in a USB adapter.
Then remove the original Windows boot
SATA drive, swap the SpinRite SATA drive
into the boot drive, boot from it, and see if
SpinRite as run from that now internal SATA
boot drive then 'sees' ONE USB drive to test.
- - - - -
Does the computer have a CD drive, or
diskette drive?
Those are alternative SpinRite boot drives
that may leave ONE USB drive available
for SpinRite to test.
. . . aanndd if the USB drive you want to check
is a SATA drive inside a USB cabinet, simply
remove the drive and install the drive
internally as the prime SATA drive, then boot
from a SpinRite USB drive and check the
then-internal SATA drive.
So, what kind of USB drive are you checking?
Make and model?
is a SATA drive inside a USB cabinet, simply
remove the drive and install the drive
internally as the prime SATA drive, then boot
from a SpinRite USB drive and check the
then-internal SATA drive.
So, what kind of USB drive are you checking?
Make and model?
Check whether your machines have eSATA ports (many older Dell PCs do). If so you may be able to use a SATA to eSATA cable or hard disk enclosure to mount your disk. I have a StarTech external disk caddy with SATA and USB3 ports that I use for this purpose on older Dell PCs. The SATA connection runs a lot quicker than over a USB2 connection as well.
... and if the USB drive is ONLY a USB drive,
you may need to move on to another
computer to run a SpinRite test of it.
An alternative mini-SpinRite-like test under
Windows is free ValiDrive from:
https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm
you may need to move on to another
computer to run a SpinRite test of it.
An alternative mini-SpinRite-like test under
Windows is free ValiDrive from:
https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm
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