Failed Drive - Can't Boot! HELP! #19341286

So I've found a bit of time to do some more poking around and here's my progress thus far (I'm not sure I can really call it progress yet as I've still got no access to any of my files, but I've at least got some more information)...

I've picked up two additional 2TB drives, thinking that I can at minimum clone the two drives that passed all the diagnostic tests and then try to somehow mount them.

I connected each of the disks to my desktop (running Windows 7) and here's what I found when checking them out in Computer Management --> Storage --> Disk Management:

Disk 1 -- This is the one that has SMART errors and fails all the Seagate SeaTools tests (both Windows and DOS versions) and seems to need replacement
There are a number of healthy partitions displayed, looking similar to disk 3

Disk 2 -- passed all SeaTools tests
All space is unallocated, no partitions and I keep getting prompted to initialise -- this was the big surprise and somewhat disheartening.

Disk 3 -- passed all SeaTools test
There are a number of healthy partitions displayed, looking similar to disk 1

So first I cloned disk 3 using the EaseUS ToDo Backup Advanced Server 5 Trial. It has a sector by sector option and it seemed to work out ok. It completed and the cloned disk has a bunch of healthy looking partitions on it according to Windows. I actually attempted to clone disk 1 first, but the app just kind of sat there and didn't do anything so I figured it wasn't going to happen.

Then when I tried to clone Disk 2 (the uninitialised one), I couldn't because it was uninitialised. I didn't think initialising it would help my cause so after some research, I downloaded a Knoppix image and used 'dd' to clone disk 2. It took a heck of a long time, but it eventually completed. The cloned disk is also entirely unallocated; strangely though, it does seem to be initialised (I think with MBR, as Windows gives option to convert to GPT.)

I'm currently running a complete scan on my clone of disk 2 with EaseUS Partition Recovery to see if that might work and it'll likely take a long time. It's a little past a quarter of the way through and I'm getting interesting results. It's found 9 partitions so far: 2 EXT3, 5 "FAT12" and 3 NTFS. I can't imagine this is correct, but maybe there are patterns its looking for that coincidentally match? Anyway, I'll let it finish and see if there are more found that look a bit more reasonable.

I think my next step once this scan of disk 2 (clone) and subsequent fiddling is done might be to see if I can get a clone of my damaged disk 1 using the Knoppix/dd method to see if that fares any better than in Windows. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but in theory if I can somehow get disk 1 back, maybe a disk 1 and 3 combo would have me sailing away into the sunset with all my data. sigh.

Anyway, if there are any good suggestions given any of this new info, please do tell as I'm not totally immersed in data recovery and I'm sure there are things to try that may not be obvious to a relative newb.

I'll try to exhaust a few more paths and hopefully there are a few things left to try before being forced down the last resort path (and brutally more expensive) of professional recovery.

Thanks for any ideas that may be on the way!