Spinrite - hot or hype?

[BCNZ]

I've heard two conflicting stories about Spinrite - one says it's the greatest thing since the PC was invented, another says it's the biggest scam since Edison invented the vacuum cleaner..

So, what are your opinions?

[roguefan99]

Depends on your point of view. From the way I see it I dont worry about my HDD dying because I backup (though after the forum problems I do wonder about my backups!), but as a disc analysis and correction too I think its one of the best on the market.

I'll admit I dont use it but I had a look at it a while ago (when the PCs at work died down, then realised they had McAffee on them), and it looked to do what it said. I think you can have both opinions about it (its the greatest thing, but if you dont use it, its a scam).

[acejas]

I use it and I think its an excellent product. I think why people think its a scam (id love some links to where people say its a scam - why do they think its a scam?) is becuase they dont know what its for. As a recovery tool I use for old drives with bad sectors. I use other tools to recover data first on another drive, then i try and clone that drive THEN i use Spinrite. I primarily use it to test the drive in question. I also use it to make sure my drives are in good phyical condition even they i have backup drives. I do tests on another PC because this can take days

[covert]

Great piece of software. I have used it to recover dozens of drives. Mostly 1inch and 1.8 inch drives out of iPods.