SpinRite is a computer software program for scanning magnetic data storage devices such as hard disks, recovering data from them and refreshing their surfaces. The first version was released in 1988. Version 6.0, still current as of March 2015, was released in 2004. SpinRite is run from a bootable medium (floppy disc, optical disc, bootable external storage device such as a USB stick) on a PC-compatible computer; it uses its own operating system and ignores the one installed, whether functional or not.