"As I answered here in another ""hard drive failing"" question:
I had success once recovering information by placing the HDD into a USB enclosure, placing the enclosure into a gallon-size ziploc bag, and placing the bag into the freezer (the bag is to help keep condensation from forming). I pulled data off the drive while it was in the freezer, and got a very strange look from the wife as she walked by and saw the usb cord running out of the freezer. My understanding of the process is that the deep cold of the freezer causes a slight contraction of the HDD parts, bringing them back into alignment. Like I said - it worked for me, but no guarantees. My HDD was making a ticking sound and would keep having problems reading files.
Either way, the sooner you get that data, the better.
The way I see it, it can't hurt, especially if the drive is dying. Use it as little as possible until you're recovering the data - then, do that as quickly as possible.
Edit: Not sure why the downvote, but it's well-documented on the web to have worked. http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html"
"Shut it down. Let it sit. Then, boot up some disk clone software and clone it to a hard drive of equal or greater size.
I've had good luck with this software: http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/
see: http://en.wikipediadotorg/wiki/Disk_cloning
SIDE NOTE: If you don't already, in the future, keep you system and data on separate drives (NOT partitions). It could simplify this process and spreads the work out."
"If files are literally ""disappearing"" in front of you, I'd guess you have some sort of malicious software running on your machine. Hard drive problems usually manifest themselves as read errors, not files disappearing from a browser window. So I'd agree with the suggestion that you turn off the computer immediately, then extract the data on that disk to a new PC (or your current one with a new hard disk and a fresh OS install).
But I think there's something nasty on your system now. Make sure you kill it and don't let it spread."
"If files are literally ""disappearing"" in front of you, I'd guess you have some sort of malicious software running on your machine. Hard drive problems usually manifest themselves as read errors, not files disappearing from a browser window. So I'd agree with the suggestion that you turn off the computer immediately, then extract the data on that disk to a new PC (or your current one with a new hard disk and a fresh OS install).
But I think there's something nasty on your system now. Make sure you kill it and don't let it spread."
