Hello -

New guy here with my first HDD failure. I've searched, but I guess I'm not using the right search terms to get the results I'm looking for. I actually have several questions to pose.

First, I need recommendations for data recovery software. I've tried the open source testdisk_win and photorec_win (with limited success; I got a lot of my files but not all and no video or .pst files). I've tried Kernel for Windows (crashed repeatedly), MFT Save/DTI Surface Scanner (didn't work at all) and am currently scanning with RecoverData. I've run one scan that appeared to hang up at about 85% completion, stuck on one block for about 2 hours. I've downloaded diskgetor but haven't tried it yet.

My drive is a Samsung 500GB drive that was OEM in my R580 laptop. It just quit last week without warning... no clicking, no strange behavior - the computer just froze. I couldn't reboot at all, it would just sit there with the cursor blinking at me. I took the drive out and put it in an external enclosure and started checking it on another computer. When I put it back in the computer, it got to the "Disk Read Error" message and stayed there.

Using RecoverData, I've checked the recover partition (20MB) and can see all the files. I checked the boot sector (about 200 MB, Win 7) and it appears to hang, but I've only scanned it once. I scanned the rest of the disk (single partition, 496 GB) and it appeared to hang at about 85% after about 7 hours of working. I guess it could be trying to recover a lost tron somewhere or something, but I stopped and restarted the scan. I'm currently about 65% through this one. This is the freeware version; they say download this and if you see files, buy the license ($70) and save the data.

DiskGetor is the same way.

Finally, I'm obviously going to get a backup disk system. Probably a network capable one so we can backup all the computers in the house on it. Before I do that, can I make an image of my failed drive and put it on the backup drive to keep working on while I send in the Samsung for warranty replacement? Do these backup systems come preformatted or loaded with the backup software that moving an image over might corrupt? I'll probably get a 1TB backup system, so plenty of room on it. Should I just get another 500 GB disk and put the image on that?

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post. I'm pretty technically capable, and not afraid to ask questions about what I don't know, so fire away your suggestions and solutions!

Your problem may not be that bad if you have the right equipment...
I'm in Colorado if you want to shout at me!!!

Well, I'm pretty sure I don't have the right equipment, so I'll take any help you can offer! Where in CO are you?