Save files on failed hard drive

[TLE371]

My laptop dropped and the diagnostic reports that I may need to replace my hard drive. I have run a test and Fail on the Hard Drive Short DST Check, as well it is not getting past the Repairing disk Errors run. Most of my files are on the cloud, yet there are a few I would like to recover from the desktop. Any idea how I can rescue them?

[WAWood]

@TLE371 

IF the drive is physically damaged from being dropped, there is no way to retrieve anything using software because the read mechanism was damaged in the process.

Your best bet for recovering data now is to do the following:
1) Remove the disk drive from the old PC. If this is a SATA hard drive or a SATA SSD, this is a simple thing to do. If this is an m.2 SSD, that could be either screwed to the motherboard or soldered to the motherboard. If the second, you would need to have a techician remove it for you, or you risk seriously damaging the PC doing it yourself.
2) If you have a desktop PC with a spare hard drive connector, then connect the old drive to that. If the old drive is a SATA drive, connect both the power cable and the data cable. (This adapter is illustrated below) If the old drive is an m.2 SSD, you will need a USB-to-mSATA cable.

3) Try to retrieve the files and folders you want to save from the old drive and copy them to the new PC.

If this does not work, then you need to do the following:
1) Download and install this utility on a working PC http://www.majorgeeks.com/news/story/recover_data_in_3_steps_with_minitool_power_data_recovery_free_...
2) Run the data recovery utility to see what can be retrieved from the old drive.

If that tool does not find what you need, an alternative is Recuva http://www.piriform.com/recuva

And, if that does not work well, the best tool out there is this one, but only the trial version is free http://www.file-recovery.com/

[TLE371]

Thank you so much for your reply with help solutions. I will look into this. So appreciated.