My current understanding of modern IDE drives is that the uCode ROM on the electronics package is just smart enough to spin the drive up, at which point the drive loads the rest of its instructions (RAM uCode) from a special location on the platters (minus / service tracks), and when that info checks out, the drive finally hangs out the "open for business" sign and is recognized by the BIOS.
This is a generalization, but I think this is approximately what happens for lots of drives.
Sometimes the uCode data can be hosed, and since the "minus tracks" are off limits to the user, only a special program, controller or special factory programming can reset this data.
I've seen several drives that spin up like a champ, and even with a new, exactly matched electronics package still refuse to talk to the outside world. And all this without any evidence of a drive crash or rough handling or anything.
So one thing I would like to find out is whether there are ANY drives out there that would permit reflashing of the firmware / uCode without first being able to validate the info that's on the drive.
One indication of this possibility would be if a rare drive model had flashrom large enough to store all of the uCode there, before loading it into RAM on the electronics package after startup. With flashrom becoming cheaper, this is a possibility.
It's not reality, but it makes sense to me that you should always be able to recover most of your data from a drive with good media, good mechanics and good electronics.
The fact that just a little gibberish in the wrong place can render a drive useless is enough to make me nuts!
This is a generalization, but I think this is approximately what happens for lots of drives.
Sometimes the uCode data can be hosed, and since the "minus tracks" are off limits to the user, only a special program, controller or special factory programming can reset this data.
I've seen several drives that spin up like a champ, and even with a new, exactly matched electronics package still refuse to talk to the outside world. And all this without any evidence of a drive crash or rough handling or anything.
So one thing I would like to find out is whether there are ANY drives out there that would permit reflashing of the firmware / uCode without first being able to validate the info that's on the drive.
One indication of this possibility would be if a rare drive model had flashrom large enough to store all of the uCode there, before loading it into RAM on the electronics package after startup. With flashrom becoming cheaper, this is a possibility.
It's not reality, but it makes sense to me that you should always be able to recover most of your data from a drive with good media, good mechanics and good electronics.
The fact that just a little gibberish in the wrong place can render a drive useless is enough to make me nuts!