SpinRite and USB blues - does a solution exist?

I use SpinRite to recover hard disks and their content, and to a lesser degree for preventive maintenance.

However, if a USB drive (USB thumb drive and/or external hard disk with a USB interface) is connected when SpinRite scans for devices, then SpinRite never finishes/hangs.

The work-around is of course to disconnect the drive, but there is value in being able to use SpinRite on USB drives. Some external drives have no screws and it is difficult to take out the hard disk without damaging the casing. And for those that have it would save the disassembling time.

Is there a way to fix this problem (e.g. BIOS changes or a modified SpinRite boot CD) without resorting to floppy disks?

Solution 1:

SpinRite does run fine with USB connected devices. Try using real MS-DOS instead of FreeDOS.

At this time we do not claim to have "full" support for USB or FireWire devices. However, there are DOS drivers available for USB and FireWire devices that will allow you to run SpinRite. If you can get your USB or FireWire device to "seen" by DOS, then SpinRite will have no problem testing the drive.

More info: http://www.grc.com/sr/faq.htm