It's a pretty big step up already from dying and unconscious. It doesn't prevent standard actions, it just deals 1 hit point of damage after completing them. It is good for those wanting that heroic sacrifice/Toughness and fighting on when others fall unconscious even to the point of death. "With my dying breath I slay thee".
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I think you are mis-reading something. Neither Disabled nor Staggered disallow taking a Standard action, but that if you do, you take a point of damage afterwards.
Diehard
You are especially hard to kill. Not only do your wounds automatically stabilize when grievously injured, but you can remain conscious and continue to act even at death's door.
Prerequisite: Endurance.
Benefit: When your hit point total is below 0, but you are not dead, you automatically stabilize. You do not need to make a Constitution check each round to avoid losing additional hit points. You may choose to act as if you were disabled, rather than dying. You must make this decision as soon as you are reduced to negative hit points (even if it isn't your turn). If you do not choose to act as if you were disabled, you immediately fall unconscious.
When using this feat, you are staggered. You can take a move action without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action (or any other action deemed as strenuous, including some swift actions, such as casting a quickened spell) you take 1 point of damage after completing the act. If your negative hit points are equal to or greater than your Constitution score, you immediately die.
Normal: A character without this feat who is reduced to negative hit points is unconscious and dying.
disabled
A character with 0 hit points, or one who has negative hit points but has become stable and conscious, is disabled. A disabled character may take a single move action or standard action each round (but not both, nor can he take full-round actions, but he can still take swift, immediate, and free actions). He moves at half speed. Taking move actions doesn't risk further injury, but performing any standard action (or any other action the GM deems strenuous, including some free actions such as casting a quickened spell) deals 1 point of damage after the completion of the act. Unless the action increased the disabled character's hit points, he is now in negative hit points and dying.
A disabled character with negative hit points recovers hit points naturally if he is being helped. Otherwise, each day he can attempt a DC 10 Constitution check after resting for 8 hours, to begin recovering hit points naturally. The character takes a penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total. Failing this check causes the character to lose 1 hit point, but this does not cause the character to become unconscious. Once a character makes this check, he continues to heal naturally and is no longer in danger of losing hit points naturally.
staggered
A staggered creature may take a single move action or standard action each round (but not both, nor can he take full-round actions). A staggered creature can still take free, swift and immediate actions. A creature with nonlethal damage exactly equal to its current hit points gains the staggered condition.
So, you have the option of doing partial withdraws (yes, that exists), taking a move action or move-equivalent action, or even a standard action, as long as you are willing to pay the price.
The feat is not fantastic, but it does serve a purpose (allowing spellcasters to cast while on negative HP is the main advantage, oddly enough! Also good for Barbarians).
Unfortunately, you must also pick up Endurance in order to qualify for it. Endurance is an absolute waste of a feat, in effect making diehard cost two feats. Diehard is barely worth one feat, let alone two.
Die Hard is not exactly a unilateral step up from unconscious either.
Most enemies will stop attacking a target that's down, as there are more immeduate threats. A character with Die Hard remains an immediate threat, but is still perilously close to dying.