<s>
SpinRite	B-Application
is	O
a	O
computer	B-Application
program	I-Application
for	O
scanning	O
RAS	O
Random	O
Access	O
Storage	O
devices	O
such	O
as	O
hard	B-Device
disks	I-Device
,	O
reading	O
and	O
rewriting	O
data	O
using	O
proprietary	B-Application
programming	O
methods	O
to	O
resolve	O
and	O
retrieve	O
data	O
that	O
is	O
unreadable	O
by	O
DOS	B-Device
or	O
Windows	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpinRite	B-Application
is	O
run	O
from	O
a	O
bootable	B-Operating_System
medium	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
CD	O
,	O
DVD	O
or	O
USB	B-Architecture
flash	O
drive	O
)	O
on	O
a	O
PC-compatible	O
computer	O
,	O
allowing	O
it	O
to	O
scan	O
a	O
computer	O
's	O
storage	O
medium	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpinRite	B-Application
was	O
originally	O
written	O
as	O
a	O
hard	B-Device
drive	I-Device
interleave	B-Application
tool	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
SpinRite	B-Application
was	O
designed	O
,	O
hard	B-Device
drives	I-Device
often	O
had	O
a	O
defect	O
list	O
printed	O
on	O
the	O
nameplate	O
,	O
listing	O
known	O
bad	B-Device
sectors	I-Device
discovered	O
at	O
the	O
factory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
changing	O
the	O
drive	O
's	O
interleave	B-Application
,	O
SpinRite	B-Application
needed	O
to	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
remap	O
these	O
physical	O
defects	O
into	O
different	O
logical	O
sectors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpinRite	B-Application
therefore	O
gained	O
its	O
data	B-Application
recovery	I-Application
and	O
testing	O
capabilities	O
as	O
a	O
side-effect	O
of	O
its	O
original	O
purpose	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Drive	B-Application
interleave	I-Application
has	O
long	O
ceased	O
to	O
be	O
an	O
issue	O
,	O
but	O
SpinRite	B-Application
continued	O
to	O
be	O
developed	O
,	O
now	O
using	O
its	O
remapping	O
as	O
a	O
data	B-Application
recovery	I-Application
tool	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpinRite	B-Application
tests	O
the	O
data	O
surfaces	O
of	O
writeable	O
magnetic	O
disks	O
,	O
including	O
IDE	O
,	O
SATA	O
,	O
and	O
floppy	O
disks	O
,	O
plus	O
SSD	B-Device
Solid	B-Device
State	I-Device
Drives	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpinRite	B-Application
attempts	O
to	O
recover	O
data	O
from	O
drives	O
that	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
cannot	O
read	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
the	O
program	O
encounters	O
errors	O
reading	O
data	O
,	O
it	O
uses	O
proprietary	B-Application
programming	O
to	O
try	O
to	O
read	O
the	O
sector	O
up	O
to	O
2000	O
times	O
,	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
determine	O
,	O
by	O
comparing	O
the	O
successive	O
results	O
,	O
the	O
most	O
probable	O
value	O
of	O
each	O
bit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
respect	O
,	O
SpinRite	B-Application
differs	O
from	O
most	O
data	B-Application
recovery	I-Application
software	I-Application
,	O
which	O
usually	O
provides	O
(	O
and	O
recommends	O
)	O
an	O
option	O
to	O
save	O
the	O
recovered	O
data	O
onto	O
another	O
disk	O
,	O
or	O
onto	O
a	O
separate	O
partition	B-Application
on	O
the	O
same	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gibson	O
says	O
he	O
designed	O
SpinRite	B-Application
to	O
fix	O
sector	B-Device
problems	I-Device
,	O
not	O
failures	O
of	O
circuit	O
boards	O
,	O
motors	O
,	O
or	O
other	O
mechanical	O
parts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
a	O
hard	B-Device
drive	I-Device
's	O
ability	O
to	O
read	O
data	O
slows	O
and	O
or	O
begins	O
unreliable	O
,	O
SpinRite	B-Application
may	O
recover	O
data	O
that	O
then	O
can	O
be	O
copied	O
to	O
another	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpinRite	B-Application
is	O
claimed	O
by	O
its	O
developer	O
to	O
have	O
certain	O
unique	O
features	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
disabling	O
of	O
disk	O
write	O
caching	O
,	O
disabling	O
of	O
auto-relocation	O
,	O
compatibility	O
with	O
disk	O
compression	O
,	O
identification	O
of	O
the	O
"	O
data-to-flux-reversal	O
encoder-decoder	O
"	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
drive	O
,	O
and	O
separate	O
testing	O
of	O
buffered	B-General_Concept
and	O
unbuffered	O
disk	O
read	O
performance	O
,	O
and	O
direct	O
hardware-level	O
access	O
,	O
whereby	O
the	O
drive	O
's	O
internal	O
controller	O
interacts	O
directly	O
with	O
the	O
program	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
through	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
performing	O
statistical	O
analysis	O
on	O
the	O
succession	O
of	O
results	O
thus	O
obtained	O
,	O
SpinRite	B-Application
is	O
,	O
according	O
to	O
its	O
maker	O
,	O
often	O
able	O
to	O
"	O
reconstruct	O
"	O
data	O
from	O
damaged	O
sectors	O
,	O
and	O
even	O
in	O
those	O
cases	O
in	O
which	O
complete	O
reconstruction	O
proves	O
impossible	O
,	O
SpinRite	B-Application
is	O
able	O
to	O
extract	O
all	O
intact	O
bits	O
from	O
a	O
partially	O
unreadable	O
,	O
and	O
write	O
them	O
back	O
,	O
or	O
copy	O
them	O
to	O
a	O
new	O
block	O
,	O
thereby	O
minimizing	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
data	O
lost	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpinRite	B-Application
is	O
written	O
in	O
x86	B-Language
assembly	I-Language
language	I-Language
,	O
and	O
runs	O
on	O
any	O
PC-compatible	O
computer	O
,	O
regardless	O
of	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
installed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Spinrite	B-Application
is	O
distributed	O
as	O
a	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
executable	O
program	O
which	O
can	O
create	O
a	O
bootable	B-Operating_System
drive	O
containing	O
both	O
the	O
FreeDOS	B-Application
MS-DOS-compatible	O
operating	O
system	O
and	O
the	O
Spinrite	B-Application
program	O
itself	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
6	O
is	O
compatible	O
with	O
hard	B-Device
disks	I-Device
containing	O
any	O
logical	B-Application
volume	I-Application
management	I-Application
or	O
file	O
system	O
such	O
as	O
FAT16	B-Application
or	O
32	O
,	O
NTFS	B-Application
,	O
Ext3	B-Application
as	O
well	O
as	O
other	O
Linux	O
file	O
systems	O
,	O
HFS+	B-Application
For	I-Application
Mac	I-Application
OS	I-Application
X	I-Application
,	O
TiVo	B-Application
and	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
6	O
offers	O
full	O
access	O
to	O
the	O
entire	O
disk	O
surface	O
regardless	O
of	O
partitioning	B-Application
,	O
Self-Monitoring	O
,	O
Analysis	O
,	O
and	O
Reporting	O
Technology	O
(	O
S.M.A.R.T.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
5	O
was	O
limited	O
to	O
AT	B-Protocol
Attachment	I-Protocol
(	O
PATA	B-Protocol
,	O
IDE	O
)	O
hard	B-Device
drives	I-Device
;	O
version	O
6	O
may	O
,	O
on	O
suitable	O
motherboards	O
,	O
work	O
on	O
newer	O
Serial	O
ATA	O
(	O
SATA	O
)	O
and	O
USB	B-Architecture
hard	B-Device
drives	I-Device
,	O
and	O
with	O
any	O
other	O
type	O
of	O
driveSCSI	O
,	O
1394/FireWirethat	O
can	O
be	O
made	O
visible	O
to	O
MS-DOS	O
through	O
the	O
addition	O
of	O
controller	O
BIOS	B-Operating_System
or	O
add-on	O
DOS	B-Device
drivers	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
May	O
2013	O
Steve	O
Gibson	O
announced	O
the	O
start	O
of	O
work	O
on	O
Spinrite	B-Application
6.1	O
and	O
7	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Spinrite	B-Application
can	O
be	O
run	O
and	O
can	O
be	O
effective	O
on	O
SSDs	B-Device
,	O
but	O
running	O
in	O
a	O
higher-level	O
mode	O
than	O
1	O
or	O
2	O
is	O
detrimental	O
,	O
as	O
it	O
wears	O
the	O
SSD	B-Device
by	O
writing	O
to	O
it	O
unnecessarily	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gibson	O
said	O
that	O
he	O
could	O
"	O
see	O
absolutely	O
no	O
possible	O
benefit	O
to	O
running	O
SpinRite	B-Application
on	O
a	O
solid-state	B-Device
drive	I-Device
"	O
and	O
later	O
"	O
SpinRite	B-Application
is	O
all	O
about	O
mechanics	O
and	O
magnetics	O
,	O
neither	O
of	O
which	O
exist	O
,	O
by	O
design	O
,	O
in	O
an	O
SSD	B-Device
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
episode	O
338	O
Gibson	O
clarified	O
"	O
it	O
is	O
actually	O
detrimental	O
because	O
[	O
solid-state	O
drives ]	O
do	O
n't	O
like	O
to	O
be	O
written	O
"	O
,	O
but	O
also	O
pointing	O
out	O
that	O
a	O
read-only	O
run	O
could	O
be	O
beneficial	O
:	O
"	O
SpinRite	B-Application
's	O
Level	O
1	O
is	O
a	O
read-only	O
scan	O
,	O
and	O
doing	O
that	O
on	O
an	O
SSD	B-Device
makes	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
sense	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Do	O
a	O
read-only	O
scan	O
of	O
an	O
SSD	B-Device
,	O
it	O
'll	O
show	O
the	O
SSD	B-Device
's	O
controller	O
that	O
it	O
's	O
got	O
a	O
problem	O
reading	O
a	O
sector	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
it	O
'll	O
map	O
that	O
out	O
or	O
rewrite	O
it	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
strengthen	O
that	O
sector	O
,	O
if	O
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
So	O
that	O
ends	O
up	O
being	O
a	O
value	O
for	O
SpinRite	B-Application
on	O
solid-state	O
drives.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
,	O
Gibson	O
responded	O
to	O
a	O
question	O
on	O
his	O
website	O
that	O
"	O
SpinRite	B-Application
works	O
on	O
thumb	O
drives	O
and	O
on	O
all	O
other	O
solid	B-Device
state	I-Device
drives	I-Device
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
SATA	O
drives	O
are	O
supported	O
,	O
SATA	O
controllers	O
that	O
include	O
a	O
processor	O
and	O
diagnostic	O
software	O
can	O
limit	O
SpinRite	B-Application
's	O
ability	O
to	O
obtain	O
and	O
display	O
S.M.A.R.T.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
data	O
monitor	O
does	O
not	O
affect	O
SpinRite	B-Application
's	O
recovery	O
and	O
diagnostics	O
ability	O
;	O
S.M.A.R.T.	O
</s>
<s>
GRC	O
said	O
in	O
2006	O
that	O
this	O
issue	O
would	O
be	O
resolved	O
in	O
version	O
6.1	O
,	O
anticipated	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
free-of-charge	O
upgrade	O
for	O
SpinRite	B-Application
6.0	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
SpinRite	B-Application
version	O
6.0	O
continued	O
to	O
be	O
current	O
,	O
unable	O
to	O
function	O
with	O
systems	O
that	O
utilize	O
EFI	O
bios	B-Operating_System
,	O
with	O
unchanged	O
price	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
certain	O
cases	O
,	O
Spinrite	B-Application
can	O
only	O
analyze	O
somewhere	O
between	O
the	O
first	O
128	O
gigabytes	O
and	O
1024	O
gigabytes	O
of	O
a	O
drive	O
depending	O
on	O
whether	O
the	O
drive	O
has	O
512	O
bytes	B-Application
per	O
sector	O
or	O
4096	O
bytes	B-Application
per	O
sector	O
,	O
and	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
BIOS	B-Operating_System
in	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpinRite	B-Application
uses	O
cylinder-head-sector	B-Device
method	O
when	O
addressing	O
the	O
hard	B-Device
drive	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
limits	O
SpinRite	B-Application
to	O
access	O
a	O
maximum	O
of	O
268,435,456	O
sectors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
SpinRite	B-Application
reaches	O
track	O
number	O
65,535	O
it	O
will	O
experience	O
a	O
division-by-zero	B-Algorithm
error	O
and	O
halt	O
with	O
an	O
error	O
message	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
appears	O
to	O
be	O
due	O
to	O
a	O
restriction	O
of	O
the	O
FreeDOS	B-Application
operating	O
system	O
(	O
an	O
MS-DOS	O
clone	O
)	O
supplied	O
with	O
Spinrite	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
users	O
have	O
reported	O
that	O
Spinrite	B-Application
has	O
problems	O
with	O
very	O
large	O
drives	O
,	O
and	O
that	O
using	O
,	O
say	O
,	O
MS-DOS	O
boot	B-Operating_System
disk	O
created	O
from	O
Windows	O
95	O
or	O
98	O
(	O
which	O
refers	O
to	O
itself	O
as	O
MS-DOS	O
version	O
7	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
otherwise	O
not	O
sold	O
separately	O
)	O
,	O
Spinrite	B-Application
will	O
test	O
the	O
entire	O
drive	O
without	O
software	O
error	O
;	O
other	O
users	O
report	O
that	O
this	O
did	O
not	O
resolve	O
the	O
Division	O
Overflow	O
error	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
December	O
2011	O
page	O
on	O
the	O
Spinrite	B-Application
Web	O
site	O
says	O
that	O
an	O
anomaly	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
named	O
the	O
"	O
Roger	O
anomaly	O
"	O
after	O
its	O
discoverer	O
,	O
is	O
due	O
to	O
an	O
error	O
in	O
the	O
BIOS	B-Operating_System
of	O
some	O
motherboards	O
which	O
does	O
not	O
affect	O
normal	O
use	O
and	O
hence	O
may	O
not	O
be	O
discovered	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
motherboard	O
with	O
this	O
problem	O
will	O
not	O
work	O
with	O
Spinrite	B-Application
,	O
although	O
it	O
is	O
sometimes	O
resolved	O
in	O
a	O
later	O
BIOS	B-Operating_System
update	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
case	O
of	O
a	O
motherboard	O
compatibility	O
issue	O
,	O
Spinrite	B-Application
say	O
that	O
drives	O
can	O
always	O
be	O
temporarily	O
connected	O
to	O
another	O
motherboard	O
where	O
"	O
SpinRite	B-Application
will	O
almost	O
certainly	O
agree	O
to	O
operate	O
without	O
trouble	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BYTE	B-Application
magazine	O
in	O
1989	O
listed	O
SpinRite	B-Application
as	O
among	O
the	O
"	O
Distinction	O
"	O
winners	O
of	O
the	O
BYTE	B-Application
Awards	O
,	O
stating	O
that	O
while	O
alternatives	O
had	O
appeared	O
,	O
"	O
for	O
now	O
,	O
SpinRite	B-Application
is	O
our	O
pick	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
public	O
reviewers	O
doubt	O
SpinRite	B-Application
's	O
ability	O
to	O
"	O
refresh	O
"	O
aging	O
drives	O
,	O
and	O
"	O
recovery	O
"	O
of	O
sectors	O
marked	O
as	O
"	O
damaged	O
"	O
is	O
considered	O
by	O
some	O
to	O
be	O
undesirable	O
and	O
counter-productive	O
.	O
</s>
