Hi guys, I am a new noob here. I really apprectiate ANY kind of help youre willing to give me.

Running WIN 10, 64 bit DELL Computer. Computer froze with Firefox. Accidentaly hit it. Closed the lid to let it go in sleep mode. It wouldnt go. Pressed the on/off once. Still nothing. Presses On/Off for 5 sec to shutdown. Startup I get endless loop of startup repair. DELL Pre-boot System Analysis shows error 2000-0142. Error in the HDD. Get a HDD 3.0 capsule. Acces it externally from a different laptop. Take ownership of all files. HDD is accesible. Start copying. Its extremey slow (26 days). Use TeraCopy instead. Keeps freezing at 30%. Number of days later, some folders cant be accessed anymore (the file or directory is corrupted or unreadable). Yet some days later HDD is not seen in 2 out of 3 USB ports. Use HDSentinel (see attachment). Nearly 3000 bad sectors!

PLEASE guide me to saving my files. Some friends advised program Deepspar Disk Imager.

1. Should i clone the drive first? 2. On Testdisk website it says ´Windows may have some problems in dealing with bad sectors on a damaged hard disk, so the best solution is to use a Linux OS to copy data to another hard disk.´ should I use Linux bootable USB.
3. When is the time to look for professional recovery companies and can I try fixing it recovering myself first since its expensive and infringement of privacy?

Hi

DDI is a hardware imager and not a program. I don't think it would be wise to spend 4-figures to buy DDI just to recover your drive.

To answer your questions:

1) YES. By all means.
2) Testdisk is right. You can try HDDSuperClone tool which is Linux based and is especially designed to help in such situations where the media is degraded. But...
3) If your data is valuable, I suggest you contact a good pro. Your drive is dying fast and if it fails during the imaging process, well, it won't be fun.

To sum it up:
If your data is valuable, consult a good professional.
If you can live with the idea of your drive getting unrecoverable for good, then you can try HDDSuperClone and try to image your data to another drive.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

I cant find a recovery specialist in my area. I would have to travel. If I try HDDSuperClone and it fails and the drive went unmountable. Could I then still go to a recovery specialist or is it too late and theyll send me back home?

Ive got a partial back-up via a different USB-stick. Is there any Program to extract the file mapping (directories), meaning all the existing folder and file NAMES of the HDD. This way I can see what is in it and can compare with the small backup Ive had? And know if its worth it to spend 1000 dollars on recovery company.

Why would you need to travel? Only the HDD needs to travel!

If you attempt DIY and it goes wrong (likely, given how sick this drive is) then expect a much higher bill from the recovery specialist, and chances of recovery are lessened considerably.

Where did you get the idea of 1000 dollars from? I would expect the cost to be fraction of this from an INDEPENDENT recovery centre, as the drive stands NOW. Yes, maybe the “big boys” may well try to rip you off with a 4 figure sum but that’s robbery IMHO.

Maybe if you could advise your approximate location, we could point you to somewhere trustworthy?

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

I live in The Netherlands. Also could you answer my question above about some way to extract the file/folder mapping names?

As soon as you get the name and address of a professional data recovery company from these nice folks here, send HDD immediately to them. If your accidental hit knocked the HDD heads out of alignment - then, anything you do with that HDD probably brings it closer to nil data recovery. Others here can correct me if I am mistaken.

_________________
"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin revisited