I've had this idea for a while: somehow stick together 4 jumpers so I don't have to add and remove one-at-a-time every time I need to put a drive (i.e., 3.5" WD) in safe mode. I didn't realize how easy (and supremely convenient, if you hate waisting time like me) it would be to make:

1) Find 4 jumpers of equal size (equal width is the important part, some jumpers have little "lips" on the top, which are wider than the bottom and don't line up properly when all four pushed together)

2) Hold all four together using thumb and index finger

3) Tape exposed side of all four jumpers (I used Kapton tape, just because the width was perfect)

4) This will hold all four together, now move your fingers and wrap tape around other 3 sides

5) Make a little "handle" out of tape, so it's easy to pull out

6) Using scotch tape, tape the bottom of the jumpers (this prevents the middle jumpers from staying connected to the hard drives when pulling the jumpers out)

7) Gently press "4-Jumper" into the jumper pins of a hard drive, to break through the tape on the bottom

Enjoy QUICKLY jumping your drives!

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$300 Data Recovery - Los Angeles Data Recovery

I heard Salvation Data are already in talks to mass produce these

Some Italian design wouldn't hurt

$25/each **Free shipping!

Have you guys already made something like this? If not, as silly as it may seem, it's really handy.

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$300 Data Recovery - Los Angeles Data Recovery

It's the handling charges that get you. Nice job, BTW.


I was involved in third party maintenance for many years. Improvisation was often necessary when parts were unavailable, or diagnostic equipment was too expensive. Welcome to the club. :-)

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Can you confirm that the way to set some drives eg 3.5" WD into safe mode is to jumper all 4 sets of pins ?

And I don't suppose you could remind us what you can do in safe mode
(where it doesnt load 'rom' code from disk but just the minimal in-rom code)

eg send extra (vendor specific) ata commands

or only do something via PC3000 ? eg uplaod new loaders

SuperGlue+push pin is much prettier and faster to make
I'm gonna order Italian-designed push pins and patent that thing

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SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

BlackST,

Apart from everything, what has Italian design ever improved?

jumpering a WD drive just prevents the motor from spinning. It lets you enter kernel mode. Really only useful if you have a PC-3000.

Made mine years ago

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Murphy was an optimist

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