bitcheck19

Funny you should say that. I've been an aerospace engineer for over 30 years and have designed things that you could never dream about.

Thank you for the quick reply. I always hope for an easy solution but experience has taught me that it is rarely the case. I am afraid you may be correct about the bad sectors - but I still need to try SOMETHING. I can at least hook up the "LP fix" setup and see what it reads on HyperTerminal. That should be harmless, correct? Now, as I understand it, ALL hard drives - even brand new ones - have at least some bad sectors. So, there must be a way to reload the firmware even with bad sectors. Otherwise, how do they build brand new (blank) drives and load the firmware?

I have a 2TB Seagate "GoFlex Desk" with the "locked busy" problem however the internal drive is ST32000542AS (not ST2000xxx series). The label on the drive says it's firmware CC95. (I don't see CC95 mentioned ANYWHERE on the web). I THINK the ST32000542AS is a 7200.12 series, but I'm not sure. What method is suggested for fixing THIS locked drive? Symptoms: 1) when powered on I hear drive spin up and heads sound like they're reading something - then it stops 2) drive shows up in device manager but not disk manager 3) when connected to a Win8 laptop Task Manager shows the drive is at constant 100% usage (locked busy) 4) when drive is removed from USB dock and connected directly to motherboard as drive "D" BIOS says "Hard drive failure imminent..." Windows starts but then locks up on splash screen (in other words simply having this drive connected jams up EVERYTHING). Disconnecting the drive from either USB or mainboard Windows resumes normally. I hope this drive can be "fixed" using one of the known methods ("7200.11 fix", etc.) or perhaps shorting the pads on the PCB (the "LP" fix)? I don't need a long-term fix - just enough time to get the files moved somewhere else! Any assistance appreciated.