After an unrecoverable drive failure, I would really like to determine the precise hardware fault of the drive but there is a limit to what software can tell you. The sound the drive makes (or not) might give you some idea about what is wrong and opening up the drive might give some visual clues - does inexpensive HW tech gear exist that might also help debug the situation?

This is really an intellectual exercise simply borne out of curiosity - separate from data recovery issues etc . .

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Some brands/models have a UART port that provides diagnostic information.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

@fzabkar,

Thanks! - I will look into that.

Phil.