Garycase, i thought i would see you on this ! and before anything; thanks for stepping into it.
facts :
- i always select level2 - since i'm scanning all my reserve disk drives, to test their  "quality"
- i select the whole disk
- both systems run an XP install fine; disk diags do not show any errors
- MS system is an ATA66
- Asus is ATA 100/66/33
after scanning on the MS system it still asks for 6hrs20 minutes on the ASus system !

>>  Note also that the estimated time tends to change -- sometimes dramatically -- as the Spinrite run proceeds   <<   yes, when it enters the Dynastat mode

Did you let the Asus system run a bit to see if that time is revised downward?    The time estimates aren't really very accurate until it's done at least 5% of so of the disk.

If that doesn't change, then this is indeed a strange result.   Particularly since the MS system actually has a slower interface speed (Although ATA66 is still as fast as the sustained transfer rate for most older drives -- and very close for newer ones).

I also run a Level 2 scan on all my older drives -- anything that doesn't pass error free gets tossed; those that are okay get stuck in my "spare drives" box.    I usually use the same (older) system to do that -- just for grins I'll stick one on a newer system and see if there's any noticeable time disparity like you're seeing. ... results later (in a day or two -- don't have time today).

take your time Gary.
i'm still looking in to it also from my side
itook a pic of the start page for Spinrite on both systems  - to compare
DSC-Asus0436-800.jpg
DSC-ms0441-800.jpg

==>   Are these the same version of Spinrite?  [The displays are slightly different]

==>  Most importantly (this easily explains the time differences) ... the Asus is not accessing the disk via DMA.    With PIO mode transfers it's easy to understand why it's taking so much longer.    Check your settings for the IDE channel you're using -- there's either something set wrong in the BIOS or in Spinrite.

 

booted from the same cd !
and yes - i noted that too --> see my title question " i checked in the bios with the setting UDMA to auto; when sset to UDMA5, it claimed 5.22Hrs"  apparently, it's lying to me, and spinrite reports it correct !

i will set it to udma5 again, then picture the start page again !

i just set the ide channel to UDMA6 -  and spinrite reporte d it as not in use...go figure
i'll try resetting the bios

in the bios, i noted  (it's a sata board) that for older OS i needed compatible mode - when i set that, spinrite says : dma channel : no, fast PIO mode
BUT it runs Much faster - it now claims only 16 minutes !
what a difference !

anyhow; it is strange that it refudes  to use DMA on the new board, and does use it on the old one...

Clearly that's what was causing the difference in timings.    It clearly has to do with the interface characteristics of your Asus board and how Spinrite handles them.    But in any event, you now know how to set it to run at full speed :-)

yep - thanks to this discussion !
i'm wondering if it needs another driver instlled..
or if i could make a "slipstreamed" cd for spinrite wit it; but i don't know about a driver for the P5GD2-X board

hey - i thought i closed this a long time ago - all for you Gary !

thanks again !