What's the number one sign of a failing drive?
Hard disk drive failure
Sometimes operation can be restored for long enough to recover data, perhaps requiring reconstruction techniques such as file carving. Risky techniques are justifiable if the drive is otherwise dead. If a drive is started up once it may continue to run for a shorter or longer time but never start again, so as much data as possible is recovered as soon as the drive starts. A 1990s drive that does not start due to stiction can sometimes be started by tapping it or rotating the body of the drive rapidly by hand.