I'm working on this FreePlay drive but nothing I do seems to get me terminal access. Here's the drive specs:

Model: ST1500LM003
P/N: 9YH148-550
FW: CC9F
S/N: Z11....

When it came in it spins up, sounds like a normal spin up, then just keeps spinning. In utility it ID's as:

Model : ST_M13FQBL
Serial : QNR_BFW
Firmware : 04191200
Capacity : 3.86 GB (8 089 950)

I've replaced PCB with ROM transfer. I've replaced heads, but still getting the same result. Nothing at all in terminal, even when I try shorting read channel, blocking motor contacts, etc. Is there a trick I'm missing here? I'm thinking it may just need translator regeneration. But, I'm locked out so far.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

have u checked serial in rom against the label?

it is very unlikely that rom is bad once the drive is spinning. It might be non-native though. It is the very first thing you have to rule out.

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

Yes, I checked the ROM and it is definitely native. Has the right serial number in it anyway.

When I originally connected donor I'm pretty sure it did have terminal access, though I can't very well check it now as it has no read/write heads.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

DiscFW is not loaded, which can be caused by a couple of issues, i would vote for surface errors in the SA. Drive was probably dropped or experienced some shock otherwise.

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

So do you think it's a lost cause, or do you know a method to at least get to terminal so I can try a few things? I've been told that you're the real Seagate master around here, so I'm happy to get your input.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

definitely not lost case, but without properly diagnose, i can't really point you in a direction...

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

OK, I'm not exactly sure what changed but I finally got terminal access after uploading a different LDR for it. Perhaps the other one I had tried was corrupted or somehow incompatible. Still is having issues, but at least now I'm in and able to edit system files.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

OK, case solved. It's now imaging away at 30Mb/s from all 8 heads.

Thanks for all the input guys! It's nice having other pros to bounce this stuff off of.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

so load it up with a loader, and uncheck the boxes in passport parameters?