Alternatives to SpinRite for all platforms with any license

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SpinRite Comments

Comment by newmania
about SpinRite · Jun 2011 · Helpful Not helpful 1 Helpful Report as spam

Steve Gibson is a real craftsman and he does commercial software right: no DRM, very flexible and simple license.

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Comment by Xeogin
about SpinRite · Jun 2011 · Helpful Not helpful Report as spam

Oh how I wish there was a legal, free substitute for this software, it's the reason why I found this site.

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kalyok · Aug 2013

Xeogin, it all depends on which part of the program you need. I found useful one option, kind of unique to SpinRite - refresh HDD surface, which is read and rewrite the same data back on the HDD. This procedure, done every once in a while, enhances data signal and prevents data loss due to normal/natural demagnetizing of the platter surface. Well, I found one free software that replaces this exact function: DiskFresh by Puran Software. However DiskFresh is better than SpinRite because it runs in background while OS is live, and it doesn't do too many extra moves, as compared to SpinRite. Well, not everything is positive - DiskFresh doesn't recover data, doesn't repair bad sectors (but does report them), cannot show S.M.A.R.T. data, etc., but for that I have other free utilities: Victoria, HDAT2, HDSDOS and many more others to choose from, that all together cost $89 less, that SpinRite. :)

Good luck!