Got the serial working but getting fadr:0024a2cd. The drive isn't recognized by Bios. I'm able to put in commands once pcb is detached from hdd.
Any idea what does the error code mean? I'd try the Busy recovery procedure, but would feel more confident if the condition could be confirmed. The usual error code for Busy condition is different to mine. Thanks a lot for any help.

does the drive click? Does it spin down?

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It doesn't click. It seems to spin up, when connected to pcb and powered up. But then the terminal is unavailable. Actually, there's about a second after powering up, when prompt is shown after sending ^z, but then 00..CC fadr:0024a2cd comes up and terminal no longer responds. I've tried spinning it down with right after powering up with /2 + Z and it starts to do something but gets soon locked with a different error code.

Try isolating heads.
I'm not sure if i'm on the right track giving you instructions here. Do you accept risks of DIY? Is data of high value to you? Maybe you should consult a pro with this?

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Watch out not all terminal commands are good for you. If you do them wrong you brick your HDD. So even if you can get this terminal to read for you what next? Try the normal internet publish all fix that is to unlock this one. Is this really your problem? You did not or can not diagnose this one right and you said drive dead. Well now you say drive not dead but can spin up and you can get some sort of out put in terminal. Well this is misleading. Drive is not dead. Drive has problems and you can not diagnose it correctly to fix it.

I think if you keep playing around you will actually have a dead drive then your topic will be true. Drive dead. Are you sure you want to keep on with this? Might be a lot cheaper for you to take it to someone who knows what to do on this one.

Your data is of what vaule to you? $0

If so keep going. If it is of value to you +$1000 then seek help from someone who can do this for you. There are a lot of good people here and a few bucks shipping can save you all your data. But if it is DIY then we can not encourage you to destroy your data. This is not very professional on our part. So you are sort of on your own on this one and you can do as you see fit. It is not my HDD and not my data so to me I have no idea at the value of what you stored in this HDD for you.

Hope you can find your way but be warned not all the DIY can fix it with the normal terminal commnads that have been pasted all over the Internet. There are times more than one that these commmands can do more damage than good

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Iorana Haraharaini

Thanks for the words of caution.
I had most of the stuff backed up. This is a drive from personal computer, so I have only lost about a month worth of emails as far as I remember and I cannot attach a commercial value to it. Recovering the data would be a bonus. Recovering the harddisk would be nice too, but I've sort of waved it goodbye already.
I'd consider having it repaired if the service was local and the price wouldn't go over 50Euro, but I doubt such service is available at this price point.

northwind>
I'm about to try the head isolation. following the published procedure. Any special issues to watch out for?

Yes, but I do not have the time to write down the obvious (esd precautions etc). I am guessing you have read about it all over the net.

Once you isolate heads, pcb will come ready and then you can access terminal.

Good luck.

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