I have an old Dell XPS laptop that I have kept for the sole purpose of running SpinRite because it boots from BIOS and also has an eSATA port. I have 2 external HDD docks that I can use. One of them is an old eSATA dock that registers as a SATA I according to SpinRite. The other is a new USB 3.1 (5Gbps) that shouldn't be a problem connecting to my laptop's USB 3.0 port. Which one should I use, the one that is a native SATA connection albeit slower or the faster USB that may not get down to bare metal?
-
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.
/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.)
I definitely recommend using the one that registers as SATA. In SpinRite 6.1, USB is inferior to SATA because it goes through the BIOS. USB will hopefully be on par with SATA in SpinRite 7.0 and later because Steve will write a native driver for it.
Colby is right. USB is typically inferior to SATA due to serious BIOS speed limitations with USB.
HOWEVER: You said that your laptop has a USB 3.0 port? If so, that combined with the USB 3.1 dock could be faster than the SATA I option.
Your best bet would be to try both docks to see which option is faster.
HOWEVER: You said that your laptop has a USB 3.0 port? If so, that combined with the USB 3.1 dock could be faster than the SATA I option.
Your best bet would be to try both docks to see which option is faster.
I intend to try both. The only concern is whether going through USB hinders data recovery somehow. Like is there any data or hard drive area the USB connection is unable to access or interpret correctly.
There have been many issues in 6.1 related to USB, mostly due to poor BIOS implementations. I recommend avoiding it if you can.
Similar threads
