any trick for getting usb into safemode quickly

[drdoc]

How can I get a usb drive into safe mode so that I can read the rom and access the sa through the term port.

I often get usb drives that are crashing.
They take forever to get to the point where they will respond to the terminal.
What I want to do is set a jumper to make them go immediately into safemode and not
grind the heads into the platters for 10 minutes until they give up.

I have tried bare board
I have tried lifting the head
I have tried lifting the motor
In all these cases the blinky light just blinks forever and you can never get terminal.

The best luck I have had is by putting the usb board on a sata drive - then it goes into safe mode quickly and doesnt
grind the patient to dust.
How do we get safemode quickly on a usb?

[AJ2008]

connect it via Terminal, and access through Terminal instead of USB