Hi all,

I have the following hard drive as reported by DMDE:

4TB WDC WD40EZRX-00SPED0 : 80:00A80 : WD-WCC4E0729980
LBA Size: 976746240
Cylinders: 60799
Heads: 255
Sectors: 63
Bps: 4096

This hard drive contains all my media, which I have connected to an Android media player. One day the hard drive suddenly stopped working, so I connected it to Windows. Lo and behold, nothing came up in Windows either. I tried the Storage tools under Admin in the Control Panel and it would just show an uninitialized hard drive with 4TB of blank space. Time to move on to more purpose-built tools.

Now DMDE has no problem reading the hard drive contents - in fact it actually lists out the entire folder structure. Not only that, I have also been successful in recovering files using DMDE.

So what's the problem? Well, it's 3.75TB of data, and when I left the recovery running, after 24 hours it had recovered a paltry 34GB's worth of files. At that rate I'll become an old man before I can fully recover all the data (well not really but it will take a very long time - over 100 days)!

So, the problems in a nutshell:

- DMDE reports a Read Error on Sector 0 every time I get it to analyze the hard drive, and;
- DMDE cannot make changes to the partition / MBR / MFT DMDE reports a Write Error on Sector 0

Now I can recover the data - which is good! But how can I bypass the Read / Write Error on Sector 0 issue?

I'm more than happy to provide any additional information that you may require to help me troubleshoot this issue.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

Could we see the SMART report?

You could use a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo:
http://crystalmark.info/software/Crysta ... dex-e.html

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

If you don't have the tools to properly diagnose and repair the issues with the drive, your very first step should be to get a sector-by-sector clone of the drive with a program like ddrescue. Then run the data recovery software against the clone, if needed.

_________________
Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

Hello,
try lcoughey suggestion or Symantec Ghost

Hi fzabkar and lcoughey,

@fzabkar,

Here's the CrystalDiskInfo SMART report:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 6.2.1 (C) 2008-2014 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

OS : Windows 7 Professional SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
Date : 2014/11/28 8:06:39

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
+ Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller [ATA]
- ST500DM002-1BD142
- HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GT80N

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
(1) ST500DM002-1BD142 : 500.1 GB [0/X/X, pd1] - st
(2) WDC WD40EZRX-00SPEB0 : 4000.7 GB [1/X/X, sa2] - wd

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) ST500DM002-1BD142
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : ST500DM002-1BD142
Firmware : KC45
Serial Number : W2AR1EE5
Disk Size : 500.1 GB (8.4/137.4/500.1/----)
Buffer Size : 16384 KB
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 976773168
Rotation Rate : 7200 RPM
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 4
Transfer Mode : SATA/600 | SATA/600
Power On Hours : 14026 hours
Power On Count : 27 count
Temperature : 37 C (98 F)
Health Status : Good
Features : S.M.A.R.T., AAM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
APM Level : ----
AAM Level : D0D0h [ON]

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 117 _99 __6 0000089CD0F8 Read Error Rate
03 100 100 __0 000000000000 Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 _20 00000000001B Start/Stop Count
05 100 100 _36 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 _86 _60 _30 0000181C5C8C Seek Error Rate
09 _84 _84 __0 0000000036CA Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 _97 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0C 100 100 _20 00000000001B Power Cycle Count
B7 100 100 __0 000000000000 Vendor Specific
B8 100 100 _99 000000000000 End-to-End Error
BB 100 100 __0 000000000000 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 100 __0 000000000000 Command Timeout
BD 100 100 __0 000000000000 High Fly Writes
BE _63 _58 _45 000029170025 Airflow Temperature
C2 _37 _42 __0 001300000025 Temperature
C3 _57 _34 __0 0000089CD0F8 Hardware ECC recovered
C5 100 100 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
F0 100 253 __0 5D40000036CA Head Flying Hours
F1 100 253 __0 000023A90C17 Total Host Writes
F2 100 253 __0 00009FA1DF92 Total Host Reads

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
000: 0C5A 3FFF C837 0010 0000 0000 003F 0000 0000 0000
010: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 5732 4152 3145 4535
020: 0000 8000 0004 4B43 3435 2020 2020 5354 3530 3044
030: 4D30 3032 2D31 4244 3134 3220 2020 2020 2020 2020
040: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 8010 0000 2F00
050: 4000 0200 0200 0007 3FFF 0010 003F FC10 00FB 0110
060: FFFF 0FFF 0000 0007 0003 0078 0078 0078 0078 0000
070: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 001F 850E 0006 0048 0048
080: 01F0 0029 346B 7F01 4163 3469 BE01 4163 407F 0026
090: 0026 0000 FFFE 0000 D0D0 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
100: 6030 3A38 0000 0000 0000 0000 6003 0000 5000 C500
110: 6022 01ED 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 401E
120: 401C 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0029 6030
130: 3A38 6030 3A38 2020 0002 0140 0100 5000 3C06 3C0A
140: 0000 003C 0000 0008 0000 0000 004F 0280 0000 0000
150: 0008 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 3F00 99E0
160: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
170: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
180: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
190: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
200: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 303F 0000 0000 4000
210: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1C20 0000 0000
220: 0000 0000 1020 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
230: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
240: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
250: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 99A5

-- SMART_READ_DATA ---------------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 0A 00 01 0F 00 75 63 F8 D0 9C 08 00 00 00 03 03
010: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 32 00 64 64 1B
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 33 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 07 0F 00 56 3C 8C 5C 1C 18 00 00 00 09 32
040: 00 54 54 CA 36 00 00 00 00 00 0A 13 00 64 64 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 32 00 64 64 1B 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 B7 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B8 32
070: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BB 32 00 64 64 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 BC 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 BD 3A 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BE 22
0A0: 00 3F 3A 25 00 17 29 00 00 00 C2 22 00 25 2A 25
0B0: 00 00 00 13 00 00 C3 1A 00 39 22 F8 D0 9C 08 00
0C0: 00 00 C5 12 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 10
0D0: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 3E 00 C8 C8 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 F0 00 00 64 FD CA 36 00 00 40
0F0: 5D 30 F1 00 00 64 FD 17 0C A9 23 00 00 00 F2 00
100: 00 64 FD 92 DF A1 9F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 82 00 50 02 00 7B
170: 03 00 01 00 01 4D 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 45 0C 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 99 09 E8 B1 F0 2D 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 01 00 9A 02 17 0C A9 23 63 6D 02 00
1C0: 92 DF A1 9F 18 35 24 00 00 00 00 00 C2 BC 0F 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 42 04 00 00 32 00 04 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 9E

-- SMART_READ_THRESHOLD ----------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 01 00 01 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00
010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 14 00 00 00 00
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 24 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 07 1E 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 00
040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 61 00 00 00 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 14 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 B7 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B8 63
070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BB 00 00 00 00 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 BC 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 BD 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 BE 2D
0A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C2 00 00 00 00 00
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 C5 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 00 00 00 00 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 F0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 F1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F2 00
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 60

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) WDC WD40EZRX-00SPEB0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : WDC WD40EZRX-00SPEB0
Firmware : 80.00A80
Serial Number : WD-WCC4E0729980
Disk Size : 4000.7 GB (8.4/137.4/4000.7/----)
Buffer Size : Unknown
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 7813971633
Rotation Rate : 5400 RPM
Interface : USB (Serial ATA)
Major Version : ACS-2
Minor Version : ----
Transfer Mode : SATA/300 | SATA/600
Power On Hours : 1147 hours
Power On Count : 470 count
Temperature : 38 C (100 F)
Health Status : Caution
Features : S.M.A.R.T., 48bit LBA, NCQ
APM Level : ----
AAM Level : ----

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 114 114 _51 00000000B50B Read Error Rate
03 177 175 _21 000000001FD6 Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 __0 0000000001DB Start/Stop Count
05 200 200 140 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 200 200 __0 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
09 _99 _99 __0 00000000047B Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 __0 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B 100 100 __0 000000000000 Recalibration Retries
0C 100 100 __0 0000000001D6 Power Cycle Count
C0 200 200 __0 000000000068 Power-off Retract Count
C1 198 198 __0 000000001EDD Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2 114 _97 __0 000000000026 Temperature
C4 200 200 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 197 197 __0 00000000086F Current Pending Sector Count
C6 200 200 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 200 200 __0 000000000000 Write Error Rate

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
000: 427A 3FFF C837 0010 0000 0000 003F 0000 0000 0000
010: 2020 2020 2057 442D 5743 4334 4530 3732 3939 3830
020: 0000 0000 0000 3830 2E30 3041 3830 5744 4320 5744
030: 3430 455A 5258 2D30 3053 5045 4230 2020 2020 2020
040: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 8010 4000 2F00
050: 4001 0000 0000 0007 3FFF 0010 003F FC10 00FB 0100
060: FFFF 0FFF 0000 0107 0003 0078 0078 0078 0078 0010
070: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 001F 970E 0004 004C 0000
080: 03FE 0000 706B 7C61 4123 7069 BC41 4123 007F 00FF
090: 0001 0000 FFFE 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
100: BEB1 D1BF 0001 0000 0000 0000 6003 0000 5001 4EE2
110: 5EF3 B854 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 401C
120: 401C 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0021 0400
130: 0001 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
140: 0000 0000 0004 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
150: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
160: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
170: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
180: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
190: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
200: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 7035 0000 0000 0000
210: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1518 0000 0000
220: 0000 0000 103E 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
230: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0001 1000 0000 0000 0000 0000
240: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
250: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 78A5

-- SMART_READ_DATA ---------------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 10 00 01 2F 00 72 72 0B B5 00 00 00 00 00 03 27
010: 00 B1 AF D6 1F 00 00 00 00 00 04 32 00 64 64 DB
020: 01 00 00 00 00 00 05 33 00 C8 C8 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 07 2E 00 C8 C8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 32
040: 00 63 63 7B 04 00 00 00 00 00 0A 32 00 64 64 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0B 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 0C 32 00 64 64 D6 01 00 00 00 00 00 C0 32
070: 00 C8 C8 68 00 00 00 00 00 00 C1 32 00 C6 C6 DD
080: 1E 00 00 00 00 00 C2 22 00 72 61 26 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 C4 32 00 C8 C8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 32
0A0: 00 C5 C5 6F 08 00 00 00 00 00 C6 30 00 C8 C8 00
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 32 00 C8 C8 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 C8 08 00 C8 C8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 00 C8 CD 01 7B
170: 03 00 01 00 02 FF 05 0F 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 01 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 E9

-- SMART_READ_THRESHOLD ----------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 10 00 01 33 72 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 00 00 03 15
010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 8C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 07 00 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 00 00 09 00
040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0B 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 0C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C0 00
070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C1 00 00 00 00 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 C4 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C5 00
0A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C6 00 00 00 00 00
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 C8 00 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 C8 00 00 00 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 53

When I hover over the yellow CAUTION button with the mouse it says:

Caution [C5] Current Pending Sector Count: 2159

@lcoughey,

DDRescue runs off of UNIX / Linux correct? I only have access to Windows 7 64-bit in the office and at home - is there a version that runs on Windows, or a Windows alternative that I can use? Please advise.

You can run ddrescue from a Ubuntu Live CD. Note that you will need to specify a writeable medium (eg flash drive) to store ddrescue's log file.

The other SMART attribute that is worrisome is ...

01 114 114 _51 00000000B50B Read Error Rate

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Hi all,

Just wanted to let you know that I was busy backing up files and data to free up another 4TB hard drive and lo and behold, this one also goes south on me!

So, short of buying two new 4TB hard drives to try to clone both of these, I guess I'm just going to recover the most critical information and call it a day.

Questions though remain! If I reformat them will they still be useful (as in they were just logical errors), or are they physically dying and I should just RMA one / throw away the other that is out of warranty?

Please advise, thanks!

Oh, and a curious side note: I tried using Ubuntu and ddrescue and when I read the ddrescue readme it said I needed C to compile the code first! I steered clear of that and tried installing Norton Ghost instead. The curious thing is, after installing it asked me to reboot the computer, which I did - and I got the message "missing bootmgr" -lucky I was in the office at the time and IT sorted that out in half an hour!

you don't need to compile ddrescue.

1) read:
http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Ddrescue

An easy way is: B) Recommended USB installation method from Windows
http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_How_to_install_SystemRescueCd_on_an_USB-stick

some help (basic)
http://www.technibble.com/guide-using-ddrescue-recover-data/

if you can get the new 4tb going, grab an image of it asap.

I just recovered 2TB from a disk with bad MFT using R-Studio. At no time did I try and recover more than 100GB as I don't trust operations after that size with my standard PCs (disk imagers and other pro tools are probably kinder to the disk). It does take quite a while.