[SamOlsen]

I've been using PCs for 30odd years. Never had a hard disc problem before, lucky I know. Yesterday I sat down in front of it and there were several file folders open which were all the same, looked like system folders (temp file folders?) which I thought how odd? Didn't take a photo, which I should've done obvs, just closed them down.

Next thing I tried to open an XL sheet from my hard drive and got the message:
"The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable"
The PC has a SSD as its C drive (256GB) but my everyday document folders needed more space so there's a 2TB SATA hard disc drive (D drive) where all my "stuff" is stored. This is the drive that is causing problems. Obv I've done several restarts with no apparent difference. When I restart I get (before anything else) the following:
SMART failure predicted on SATA6G_ 3 : TOSHIBA DT01ACA200
WARNING: Please back-up your data and replace your hard disc drive.
No Sh1t [img]data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7[/img]

The drive still seems to work, I have several folders in there, music, photos, specific business folders etc which I access no problem strangely, but my named "my documents" folder is inaccessible. All of the other folders seem to open no problem at all. FYI I have Norton Security on the PC.

So the question is what should I do? I've used the EASE US programme before to recover files from an external drive but as this one's internal I'm not as willing to give it a go. Should I just take the PC down to my local PC specialist or is there anything I can do myself?

[Xarton]

That's such an inconvenience. I'm sorry, bro, for your problem. But I understand what you're going through. I was in your situation a while ago, when my computer surprised me with a new notification. My hard drive was not working, and I couldn't access my data. I was very angry with myself for a while because I didn't use backup. I guess that's life, and everything comes to you when you're not expecting it. That's the beauty of it. Thanks to my friend who told me that there is a possibility of recovering all my data. There's a company that specializes in this. You can check their website right here salvagedata.com. I'm recommending them because you can have everything back for a small price.