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warren14

M$5 March 07, 2009 01:51 AM

Is there a PC that would run XP or Vista with a SATA drive bay easily accessible without opening the box?

I would like to run Steve Gibson's (of GRC.com) SpinRite on newly purchased SATA hard drives prior to installation but the program takes forever like days for the new Terabyte plus sized drives so I am thinking of an inexpensive PC for that and maybe also as a windows or Linuz server for my home LAN.

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smokenherb

March 07, 2009 02:01 AM

Not sure if this will help solve your problem but you can find many motherboards that have external plug-ins for serial ata drives at xpcgear.com.

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spoon

March 07, 2009 02:15 AM

You may be better off finding yourself a cheap older computer that has USB 2.0 (granted if you know about SpinRite and are looking to buy a Terabyte plus drive I would guess you might even have an old computer sitting around). Once you have the old computer (doesn't need SATA) you can purchase the Thermaltake BlacX external hard drive dock, this allows you to pop a SATA drive in and out, much like a toaster, and all you need to do is have it hooked up via USB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153066

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warren14

March 07, 2009 03:41 AM

I am not sure that SpinRite would be able to run on a USB connected external hard drive dock though...doubt it.

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spoon

March 07, 2009 06:16 AM

Actually it does work... I am running it that way on one of my machines right now as a trial. Check out the FAQ page for spinrite:

"Is SpinRite compatible with USB and Firewire devices?

The best answer to this is a firm "maybe". DOS device drivers are available for most USB and Firewire controllers. If such drivers are added to a DOS boot diskette so that your USB or Firewire drive is "seen" by DOS, SpinRite will also be able to "see" and operate with it. However, the performance of the drive through the DOS drivers and the serial (USB/Firewire) cable will likely be far lower than if the external drive were connected directly to a PC's motherboard controller. If you have the ability to temporarily relocate the IDE drive inside of the external enclosure to a PC— plugging it directly into the motherboard's controller — SpinRite will be able to operate at the drive's highest possible performance."

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

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