I'm using samsung 40 GB HDD [7200 rpm] It's almost full [34 GB]

ALL THE FOLLOWING  HAPPENS BEFORE BOOTING

When i switch on my system..this message is displayed

"PRI MASTER HARD DISK S.M.A.R.T COMMAND FAILED... PRESS F4 TO

RESUME"

after pressing f4,"Disk Boot Failure..Abort Retry Cancel " is displayed & the system hangs  

I tried to boot from XP bootable Cd & tried to repair...but no use
I even tried to reinstall XP...but it says "SETUP CANNOT ACCESS THE DISK"

HDD is identified in BIOS.When connected to another system...partitions are not displayed...but the hdd is IDENTIFIED in Device Manager  

what's the problem with my hdd? I tried Disk Manager to scan for badsectors & foramtting ..but it's of no use  

The local technician says that data is present...but it's not identified.

Can we recover data from this hdd? Will any chip level servicing personnel can recover this data? I need around 20 GB of data back  

The data to be recovered is: images,audio [wma files],videos[.wmv,.mpeg],.exe files,browser favorites.

If i send the hdd to samsung customer service center....will they repair it & send it taking some money ....(but the warranty period is over)

Which is better....sending it customer service center or to data recovery personnel.

Plz reply...  

Thanks.

Hi sskr

S.M.A.R.T. stands for "Self Monitoring and Reporting Technology" and the report generated is an indication of impending drive failure.

Just try this
Power up your system and enter BIOS setup. Disable 'S.M.A.R.T.

If your system will actually detect the drive and boot into Windows, immediately copy all your important data file over to the other hard drive, and then replace the drive!

If it will not work then my personal suggetion is go for a "Data recovery personel" because your primery aim is to get data back. customer service will not do it for you.

Thanks & Regards
Sandeep Kumar