I will try to recover more data later but first I want to get a complete file & directory list from the MFT. In the end the disk started to make some noise (not excessive) so I stopped it.

I used Runtime Software GetDataback and managed to image and recover about 64% of the drive but this took 4 days of continuous running. The BIOS correctly identifies the disk and I can view the partition info with Acronis Disk Director (bootable CD) but there are bad sectors. I do not know why this happens, could this be due the controller on the damaged disk may be loading the SATA bus for some reason? I tried connecting the disk to a multi-disk desktop system running Windows 7 圆4, again this fails to complete the Windows boot with the damage disk attached and I got the same results as before with the Windows XP set up disk and Bart PE on that system (having first removed the Win 7 system disk). Unfortunately, neither the Windows XP SP3 setup disk or Bart PE (built on the same OS) complete their start-up when the disk is attached to the laptop - a blue screen error results. The disk spins, and does not overheat, it is not completely dead. I had a failure of a hard disk (320GB SATA) on a laptop recently, this may have been due to a power failure or age / wear. Alternatively, I could use a utility to get a complete image of the MFT (and it's backups, for error correction) that I could then view with a working (Win 7) system to get the directory / file listing. to a second attached NTFS HDD or a USB removable disk. I need a utility which can boot from a CD (or floppy disk in worst case) and can get a complete file & directory listing from the MFT of a damaged NTFS HDD and output the report as text or CSV etc.

Testdisk windows xp