Hello members of this great forum,
I'm a noob for in depth HDD issues, work at electronics repair so I can understand most electronics (physical) issues but the software is not my forte although I do understand the main lines. (Just have not got round to experimenting on the software side.)

The HDD that caused me to register here is my own and of course has some files on I would like to recover.
It's a:
Maxtor DiamondMax 22 (7200.11)
STM3500320AS
S/N: 9QM7X9ZX
P/N: 9GT154-325
Firmware: MX15 (Updated to MX1A)
Date Code: 09146
Site Code: KRATSG (Korat Thailand)

PCB info:
TOPSEARCH 94V-0
TS-M-8V01C SG

PCB 100466725
REV A DLAJ-4
Barcode: 100468974 J 7913VCRN

CPU:
(ST)
V523C
SEAGATE
DAZZ001TQ
9E812049
990CY
MYS 8U 835

RAM:
(Samsung)
K4H561638J-LCCC

Motor drive:
(ST)
SMOOTH
100501286
AAAAX V5

Now the problems: About a year back i had the BSY bug for the first time then once more within 6 months, I was able to solve that following info given here and in other places.
After the second hang I was tiered of it and updated FW to "MX1A".

The drive had been running regularly between 40-47°C since the beginning of summer, a couple of days ago it was very hot here, (I was not monitoring HDD temp...) I left my computer running and while I had my back on it something happened.
When I returned it had restarted, this drive was lost in BIOS list, on a cold restart it was detected but with bad SMART and would not start OS. (XP error message regarding lost .DLLs)
On warm restart drive was absent again.
The partitioning was something like 1: 6GB (NTFS XP), 2: Size? (EXT3), 3: 1GB (Linux Swap), 4: Size? (EXT3), 4: 400+ GB (NTFS general storage)

I have been able to retrieve a few files from XP partition, drive never stays online long, filesystem appears corrupt, some files are missing, in some directories file names are correct but with a null size. Sometimes XP will say drive is not formatted.
I get no odd mechanical noises from the HDD.

Now the questions:
Does this look like a overtemp related failure?
What happens in the case of overtemp: Servos not tracking correctly due to excessive mechanical dilatation? CPU/RAM corrupt data? Demagnetization?

Before deciding what to do with the drive I would like to understand what has gone wrong in it, so if you care and have some time so spare please explain.
Could some of the experts here try to give me their opinion on how recoverable it is? (In present day and by myself probably not!)
If I get it done by a pro what is the likely cost for recovery of both NTFS partitions? (400GB approx.) Feel free to give me your prices.

Thanks.

Small update:

SMART fail is on Reallocated sectors count.

MAXTOR STM3500320AS 9QM7X9ZX identify:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Common data about configuration |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ATA device |
| Fixed disk and/or controller |
| Model | MAXTOR STM3500320AS |
| Serial number | 9QM7X9ZX |
| Firmware version | MX1A |
| Capacity | 465,8 Gb |
| Interface type | SATA |
| Bus type | USB |
| Identification method | SCSI PT; SAT PT |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Additional info |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Logical cylinders | 969021 |
| Logical heads | 16 |
| Logical sectors per track | 63 |
| Number of bytes available when performing R/W long | 4 |
| Maximal block size for commands R/W multiple | 16 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Info about logical drives |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Disk H:\ |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Volume name | XP-ntfs |
| File system name | NTFS |
| Volume serial number | E83B4920 |
| Total space | 21,7 Gb |
| Free space | 0,2 Gb |
| Total clusters | 5689010 |
| Num free clusters | 54996 |
| Sectors per cluster | 8 |
| Bytes per sector | 512 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Disk I:\ |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Volume name | Max500-2 |
| File system name | NTFS |
| Volume serial number | 348E2775 |
| Total space | 422,3 Gb |
| Free space | 104,2 Gb |
| Total clusters | 110715955 |
| Num free clusters | 27319863 |
| Sectors per cluster | 8 |
| Bytes per sector | 512 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Features |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ÇStop timer values is standard |
| IORDY is supported |
| IORDY can be disabled |
| LBA is supported |
| DMA is supported |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Current logical parameters |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Cylinders | 969021 |
| Heads | 16 |
| Sectors per track | 63 |
| CHS mode capacity available | 7,9 Gb |
| LBA mode capacity available | 128 Gb |
| LBA48 mode capacity available | 465,8 Gb |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Available DMA modes |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Multiword DMA Mode 0 |
| Multiword DMA Mode 1 |
| Multiword DMA Mode 2 |
| Minimal multiword DMA cycle time | 120 ns |
| Recommended multiword DMA cycle time | 120 ns |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Available Ultra DMA/33 modes |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 0 |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 1 |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 2 |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 3 |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 4 |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 5 |
| Ultra DMA/33 Mode 6 |
| Active UDMA mode | UDMA 6 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Supported extended PIO modes |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PIO Mode 3 |
| PIO Mode 4 |
| Minimal PIO cycle time without thread management | 120 ns |
| Minimal PIO cycle time with IORDY | 120 ns |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Supported ATA standards |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ATA - 4 |
| ATA - 5 |
| ATA - 6 |
| ATA - 7 |
| ATA - 8 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Available SATA modes |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| SATA-I (1.5Gb/s) |
| SATA-II (3.0Gb/s) |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Acoustic management |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Acoustic management current | 0 |
| Acoustic management vendor | 254 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Supported command sets |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| NCQ |
| Phy Event Counters |
| Initiating power management |
| Software Settings Preservation |
| S.M.A.R.T. |
| Power management |
| Volatile write cache |
| Read look-ahead |
| Host protected area |
| Write buffer |
| Read buffer |
| Download microcode |
| SET MAX |
| 48-bit addressing |
| Device configuration overlay |
| Flush cache |
| Flush cache ext |
| S.M.A.R.T. error logging |
| S.M.A.R.T. self-test |
| General purpose logging |
| 64-bit World wide name |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Enabled command sets |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Software settings preservation |
| S.M.A.R.T. |
| Power management |
| Volatile write cache |
| Read look-ahead |
| Host protected area |
| Write buffer |
| Read buffer |
| Download microcode |
| 48-bit addressing |
| Device configuration overlay |
| Flush cache |
| Flush cache ext |
| S.M.A.R.T. error logging |
| S.M.A.R.T. self-test |
| General purpose logging |
| 64-bit World wide name |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Security subsystem |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Password is set | No |
| Drive is locked | No |
| Drive is frozen | No |
| Incorrect passwords counter overflow | No |
| Security level | High |
| Master code | FFFE |
| Supporting extended security erase | Yes |
| Âðåìÿ ïîëíîãî ñòèðàíèÿ (security erase) | 50 |
| Âðåìÿ ïîëíîãî ñòèðàíèÿ (enhanced security) | 50 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


MAXTOR STM3500320AS 9QM7X9ZX S.M.A.R.T.:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ID# | Parameter | Value | Threshold | Worst | Raw |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1 | Raw Read Error Rate | 89 | 6 | 88 | 211277544 |
| 3 | Spin Up Time | 96 | 0 | 92 | 0 |
| 4 | Start/Stop Count | 100 | 20 | 100 | 832 |
| 5 | Reallocated Sectors Count | 6 | 36 | 6 | 1937 |
| 7 | Seek Error Rate | 66 | 30 | 58 | 68797060289 |
| 9 | Power-On Hours Count | 87 | 0 | 87 | 11876 |
| 10 | Spin Retry Count | 100 | 97 | 100 | 1 |
| 12 | Device Power Cycle Count | 97 | 20 | 97 | 3822 |
| 184 | End-to-End error | 100 | 99 | 100 | 0 |
| 187 | Reported UNC error | 1 | 0 | 1 | 541 |
| 188 | Command timeout | 100 | 0 | 94 | 8590065924 |
| 189 | Vendor specific | 100 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
| 190 | Airflow Temperature | 71 | 45 | 48 | 488439837 |
| 194 | Temperature | 29 | 0 | 52 | 281423437103133 |
| 195 | Spin Up Retry Count | 37 | 0 | 28 | 211277544 |
| 197 | Current Pending Sector Count | 100 | 0 | 100 | 110 |
| 198 | Uncorrectable Sector Count | 100 | 0 | 100 | 110 |
| 199 | UltraDMA CRC Error Rate | 200 | 0 | 200 | 0 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello

For me You have something like a bad head, all try will make things going worse. If you really need the data, stop now and check a pro around.
If you want Detroy It Yourself, try to make a sector by sector image from the drive begining the partition you wants data from
But i think the drive will disapear before you fibished it


Good Luck

_________________
Récupération de Données

Try this Idea, might not work, but it won't harm your drive, I've done it to my Maxtor 40gb drive that started acting up due to overheating and its age.

Take the drive out of its bay and place it at the bottom of the computer, or near a fan, get some small Ram heat sinks and stick one on the SMOOTH chip and one on the big Controller, make sure not to touch any of the other components on the board, basically you want to get the heat away from the chips, I think it is manly the SMOOTH chip overheating and causing problems. Another idea is to attach a fan to the underside of the hard drive, also have the PCB facing upward to dissapage the heat more.

Hi,
Thanks for your advice.
I have recovered most of the drive.
The larger NTFS partition was no problem.
Smaller (XP OS) NTFS partition has some MFT errors, i used DiskInternals NTFS reader, copying files by small groups, evry time I hit on a file erronous in MFT i would get a cyclic redundancy check error (is there any way to disable this?) and have to power cycle the drive.
Have not yet looked at EXT3 partitions. (Is DiskInternals "Linux Reader" meant to support this FS?)
Now you know a little more on the state of the drive, what would have been a pros approach to this issue? (Software used and so on...)
Also how would you go about trying to restore the files that are corrupt?

Thanks

Simply impossible with free tools or software only.

Try something else if it is worth the time, but do not expect 100%.

Good luck.

Good advice ShaneWard!

Bad Block Copy for Windows:
http://alter.org.ua/soft/win/bb_recover/

"Copies data from file or raw harddisk ignoring Bad Blocks."

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

i have 4 disk with same problem.

i recover my data from specially St31000528as.
after that for use the disk i want to zero format.
maybe disks tired or overheated.

but zero fill couldn^t be complete. then drives start to click.

i will add the sound of click..

+1

in this way i recover data from st31000340as . it took 2 week..disk disappears Often .
terminal commands resurrect it.
but again and again disappears.
There are many bad sectors. Some files gone.