doober

Just chipping in with another success following the guide in the first post. Was performed on an ST3500320AS that had the BSY problem and was actually half a raid0 array. Restored it 100% working, booting with all files intact. YMMV. I'd like to remind people that the TX line to the drive needs to be kept <3.3V (more like 3.0V) though - many 2.7V devices are 3.3V tolerant but not all. Unless there is specific 3.3V (3.6V) tolerance on the controller (I am not thinking the datasheet is available outside of an NDA) they may damage it. 5V would be heavily relying on a weak driver and parasitic (i.e. not guaranteed) elements in the controller. Powering the driver (the MAX232/ICL232/whatever you use) with a 3.0V battery as used in the guide is a good idea and within tolerance on 2.7V inputs but otherwise those zeners are very much required. Many thanks to gradius and others involved in the solution