Help!!! My hard disk has failed. The hard disk is a 40GB slim MAXTOR. I created four partition on it and was using two of the partition as backup for my files.
How the trouble started:
It happened that the generator in the office went off and restarted while my PC was on. By the time I returned to my desk to put on the PC it could no longer boot. It was showing the following error:

Primary Master HDD Error
Run SETUP Press
F1 to Resume

I thought it was a minor problem. So I removed the hard disk and attached it to another pc as slave. But alas, it still came back with the same error message only this time

Primary Slave HDD Error
Run SETUP Press
F1 to Resume

Whenever, I run setup, I discover that the BIOS configuration is showing that the hard disk is not available. But when I scanned for hard disk under BIOS SETUP, the full specification of the hard disk get displayed. Unfortunately, after saving the specification and returning to the booting area, the same error message gets displayed. When I return to BIOS SETUP, the hard disk will not be showing.

If I press F1, the computer start seeking for the OPERATING SYSTEM from other sources other than the HARD DISK.

When slaved to another computer. The same error still get showing. However, after pressing F1, the computer will boot normally, but the hard disk will neither show up under DISK MANAGEMENT, nor under Hardware Profile. That is, it is treated as none existing. I have tried using different OS, WIN98, WIN2000 and WIN XP. It is the same result.
It was then I realise that "wahala don sele" (there is trouble). For more than 3 days I was combing the internet to get solution because I have files on the hard disk that spans several years work. In my wildest dream I never imagine that a hard disk will just pack up like that. So foolishly, I have been backing up my files in the fourth partition of the hard disk.

Please, if anyone knows how I can get my files off this hard disk. Kindly post the solution. Thanks in advance.

u ddnt tell us the operating system running on ur system , however if u ar able to boot wit another hard dis just only can see ur hdd then u can use dos command at de dos environment to recover ur file
. alternatively, u can install a Filerecovery software on the running hdd then just activate the file recovery operation to get back ur file.
Andor

@Andor
I was operating Windows XP. The problem now is that even MS Dos cannot see the hard disk. So no File Recovery Software is of any use. I've tried them before posting this problem.
Thanks for your reply. I still look forward to a solution.

scribe:

When slaved to another computer. The same error still get showing. However, after pressing F1, the computer will boot normally, but the hard disk will neither show up under DISK MANAGEMENT, nor under Hardware Profile. That is, it is treated as none existing.

Pally, check the IDE cable you used in connecting the slave hard disk; make sure it is well fitted to the board and the hard disk. if possible exchange the IDE cable with the one that is known to be working.
After connecting or fixing the hard disk as a slave, go to setup and make sure that the IDE slot where the suspected bad HDD is connected on the board is enabled. That is make sure IDE 0 and IDE 1 as the case may be are all ebabled; if they are not, enable them.
Then make sure the system recognizes the slave HDD as a primary or secondary slave depending on the system setup. Make sure you save any changes made there. Infact from the setup you should be able to see the master and slave hard disks with their various statistics. After that reboot the system to come up, then check thru mycomputer to see if the 2nd disk is recognised and available. Pls try it and see to be sure whether that hard disk is bad or not.