Fairly Redundant

I joined to support a valuable resource, and to say thanks. My ST31000340AS P/N: 9BX158-335 was successfully resurrected and my data is all intact. I did the firmware upgrade ( after backup up all irreplaceable data, as well as most of the rest ), and all seems to be in order. Needless to say I am extremely happy! The thing was practically full ( something like 20+GB free out of 1TB ), some of the files being irreplaceable. I will say it, even though we all know it, backup, backup, backup... Yes, I do feel like an id***, as normally I make two (2) backups of everything... I wish I could say lesson learned, but this isn't the first time I have lost files via not backing up, only the worst. Again, a grateful person saying thanks. ( And yes, even though Seagate *says* that they are offering free data recovery now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I *definitely* am not handing any of my private data over to someone I don't know unless there is no other way... ) Note: I did the 'busy' and 'LBA0' recoveries. Note2: my www dot nkcelectronics dot com UL94V-0 RS232 to TTL adapter ( off of eBay ) needed a RX -> RX / TX -> TX hookup to work. FYI. Note3: The RX/TX connectors were scavenged from a 4-pin floppy power connector, and I crushed the ends to make them small enough... Simplify, simplify, simplify...