Browsing this forum, I found on many threads experts talking about so cooled “Safe mode”.
As a beginner I can’t truly understand what this mode real is, so let me ask this question:
If I write 98h to 1F7h,and device IS in "safe mode", what shall be the value of 1F2h?
1. 00h
2. FFh
3. Something else?

Thank you for your time.

A drive does not enter "safe mode" by itself as I understand it.
A drive can enter other modes such as alternative mode.

To get a drive into "safe mode" as it is called, you must do something
to interrupt or skip some part of the normal start-up process.

Often after forcing a drive into safe mode the motor might not start up
or some other normal start-up process/es are skipped.

Once in safe mode you could then replace the normal process/es skipped
with one which might allow access to the drive (pcb and SA).
Maxtor loader file does this.

I suppose your work with the registers might be the same with a drive
in "standard mode" as in "safe mode".

In ATA standards, there is no a single word about “safe mode” - (IMHO, if device CAN be putted in some kind of mode, possibility of that action have to be described there); of course, there are alternate modes: Idle, Stand by, Sleep.
So, do I have right to think about “safe” as just of word which basically mean the same as one of already documented?
Is the “safe” = “stand by”?

Safe mode is not an ata command, and there is vendor specufy commands too.
idle is not an alternative mode, an alternative mode is when the hdd works in a speciall vendor mode like MX NCR

regards

Safe mode is a possibility I have considered. I'm doing a lot of reading right now but most good articles on hard drives are in Russian and it takes time to translate.

What do you mean by a Maxtor loader file? Can you point me to a place I can read about this?

Thanks