Eminent Failure
Most hard drives include predictive failure function known as Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T). This feature can easily be enabled through BIOS or System Setup.If the S.M.A.R.T function detects issues on the hard drive during the PC boot up process, a warning will be displayed. Immediately back up your data and replace the hard drive.The event logs on Microsoft Windows based systems can too help in revealing the problems. The most common hard drive related error event log message is "windows has detected a bad block on device." This message is usually accompanied with blue screens, corrupt data and sluggish performance. At this point, backing up your files is critical. Consider using an external hard drive via USB or fire wire for backing up your data if the failing drive is still accessible via the operating system. If the failing drive is no longer accessible then offline access is probably the next best option.
Offline Recovery
If you have another computer available, you could attach the failing hard drive as a secondary drive then copy off the data. Another option would be to install the failing drive into an external hard drive case then pull data via USB or a fire wire connection. If the operating system is unable to copy off your data then try software recovery.
Software Recovery
Data recovery software, assuming the drive is still accessible, scans the failing hard drive, maps and identifies files it determines can be successfully restored. A list of recoverable files is usually generated and presented to the end user for selection and subsequent recovery. The price range can vary from freeware to hundreds of dollars. Data recovery applications are readily available on the web for download and immediate purchase. Professional Data recovery service is the next and usually final option if the drive is longer detected by the pc or is completely nonfunctional.
Professional Data Recovery
If you absolutely cannot part with data on an inaccessible hard drive, then consider using a professional data recovery service. These services have the facilities and technical expertise to recover data from hard drives in almost any condition. The cost of such services can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on the recovery methods used and amount of data.
