The second drive (i.e., not system drive) on my older system is failing. It is a Seagate ST3250823A, 350 gig. It's the drive where I 'store' files for long-term purposes, but stupidly didn't actually back it up. So if it goes, so does a lot of data.
I've been considering using DiskPatch to clone the drive and the iRecovery for file rescue, both at
DIYDataRecovery. But iRecovery can also do a disk image as well. My thread about this is
here, along with the data from their analysis log and smart check.
My concern is that there may be only one more chance to run the drive and so I want to choose an approach or software that will have the best chance of success as a starting point for file recovery. Oh, yes, the CD-rom drive no longer works, so I'm using a diskette to run the tool. It's not USB-bootable.
The system in question is a Dell 8250, Win XP, 1 gig ram. The system drive is also of questionable health. At this point I just want to ensure that I can get the data off the second drive and then I will scrap the system.
Right now the system is working fine, but it does become unresponsive at times recently. I'm wondering if I should move the second drive to my newer system (specs below) for the cloning or is that risky for the drive.