ST9250827AS with firmware 3ADB

Seems to spin up fine, just clicks endlessly (seek noise + 2 clicks, with about a 1.5s pause between attempts). BIOS recognizes it but can't boot it. SeaTools sees it, gives me "Error on Identify Command". I've started a Long Scan, which actually seems to run - except after 10min I'm at LBA 257 (!!!) with 39 errors - should I cancel it out before it hits 99 and try to repair?

Would flashing the drive with different firmware work?

Also, I remember hooking up a RS232->TTL adapter to ST3500320AS drives and running a few commands that got them semi-serviceable again (some were fine, others had tons of surface errors on the long scan). Would that work here?

Would there be any way to get something out of this drive? It's from a Dell laptop, warranty on the laptop has expired and Seagate won't touch it - the laptop was on and sitting still on a flat surface when the harddrive suddenly just went. Any advice is more than welcome, thanks!

If you dont need the data, bin it and get a new drive.

If you do need the data, look up a reputable DR company in your area that can work with these drives. There is terminal access on these drives but commands are different and baud rates are different. If the drive is clicking/dead, then you should consider stopping what you are doing as you may end up in a worse situation that you are already in.

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If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you probably don't fully understand the situation. ... Mr Kipling

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Thanks, that's exactly what I'll do; I've learned to keep frequent backups after the whole 7200.11 debacle. It'll be a while before I trust a Seagate drive with anything again. I swore by Seagate throughout the .7-.10 lines, both 5400 and 7200. Five-year warranty, very reliable, and could take a hell of a beating over the years with large frequent-access SQL DBs. Not so since .11, such a shame =(