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I need to use SpinRite on my notebook which has no CD-ROM.

How can I install and run SpinRite from a USB thumbdrive? Such that I could boot the notebook up with a thumbdrive and start SpinRite.

Are all USB thumbdrives capable of booting? I don't even know how to make them boot.

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Possible duplicate: serverfault.com/questions/43259/… – Christoffer Madsen Jun 18 '10 at 10:12
Not a duplicate - that question is about checking hard disk drives in USB devices (after starting SpinRite in any way that works), not about starting SpinRite itself. – Peter Mortensen Mar 30 '12 at 16:57

4 Answers

up vote 12 down vote accepted

I tried the following.

  1. Downloaded "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8" from http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

  2. Download "Windows 98/DOS boot files" from http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=196

  3. Use it to format the USB drive and enable the option to make it bootable

  4. Copy spinrite.exe to the formatted USB drive

  5. Boot the notebook with it and at DOS prompt, run spinrite.exe

I can now run SpinRite on my CD-ROM-less machine! Very clear instruction from the GRC support!

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1  
This is also described on the SpinRite FAQ page (in section "How do I make a bootable USB thumb drive??"). – Peter Mortensen Mar 30 '12 at 17:04
up vote 8 down vote

Also, You can run the spinrite installer and choose to install onto a drive. and "Hold down the letter of the drive on the keyboard and press install" then it boots right into spinrite (Just tested)

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+1 simplest method. My system also seemed to need the partition on the USB drive set to 'active', which I achieved by using windows 7 fdisk. – alx9r Feb 8 at 19:42
up vote 3 down vote

SpinRite 6.0 lets you install make any writable drive bootable using an option on its main menu, as noted above by Travis. You may have to hunt around a bit in your BIOS Setup menu to find the option for elevating you drive, such as a USB flash drive, to the first position.

You can make an inexpensive, quiet "SpinRite machine" by buying a Zotac mini-PC without a hard drive and just booting from a USB flash drive or memory card. Plug in a hard drive dock (toaster) so you can easily prepare or refresh any of your 3.5 or 2.5 inch drives.

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