A: No. The pinout is different. The “hot” method applies only to FC1178 series.

A: Possibly. That error means the controller is alive but the firmware is scrambled. Shorting might bring it back to loader mode.

When finished, the LED on the drive will stay solid. You can now close MPtools, unplug the drive, and replug it. Windows will ask to format the drive – do a full (not quick) format using NTFS or exFAT. Even with the short, you might encounter errors. Here is what to do: