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DNS Benchmark v2 is Finished and Available! Guest:
That's right. It took an entire year, but the result far more accurate and feature laden than we originally planned. The world now has a universal, multi-protocol, super-accurate, DNS resolver performance-measuring tool. This major second version is not free. But the deal is, purchase it once for $9.95 and you own it — and it's entire future — without ever being asked to pay anything more. For an overview list of features and more, please see The DNS Benchmark page at GRC. If you decide to make it your own, thanks in advance. It's a piece of work I'm proud to offer for sale. And if you should have any questions, many of the people who have been using and testing it throughout the past year often hang out here.
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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.)
You have already taken the first step by buying a SpinRite license!
SpinRite 6.1 is still in development. Eventually Steve will be announcing a beta test version. When that happens you, as a SpinRite license owner, will be eligible to participate as a beta tester. It is not possible to say when that may be.
Until then, you may monitor SpinRite progress at https://www.grc.com/groups/spinrite.dev as well as Steve's Blogs in these forums.
There is nothing to sign up for beyond becoming a GRC customer and buying your SpinRite license. As others have said above, there is nothing to test yet that approaches what you would consider even alpha quality. Steve is still reworking his old code to handle modern computers (using 32 or 64 bit addresses instead of older 16 bit addresses if you will.) I am sure there will be noise here in these forums when the first beta is ready for a wider audience, and at that time you will go back to the GRC webpage to get a copy you can test out. This will be the same when 6.1 finally releases, your SpinRite receipt is your ticket to future versions you are licensed to use.
I was also looking for a test version or (Beta) or something to test as well. I'm building some older systems with more modern hardware ATM and some HDD are a little too used; So I'm currently running Spinrite 6 on them but it's slow. I understand Steve has implemented some new methods of Data transfer in his code so I thought I'd try it. Oh well just have to wait with baited breath.
I think Paul's post above yours explains it all. My personal opinion is I think we will have something to test on 6.* this year, but I think 7.* wont be available until 2023!
