What to do right now
- Stop scanning and copying files from the failing drive and do not run CHKDSK on it.
- Prepare another physical disk with more free space than the whole failing drive.
- Create a drive image that skips bad sectors, then scan the image file instead of the drive.
- If the drive clicks, grinds or is not detected at all, switch it off and consider a recovery lab.
Step by step
Listen and decide
Before anything else, listen to the drive. Clicking, grinding, beeping or repeated spin-up sounds point to a mechanical fault. In that case power it off now; imaging a drive with a damaged head can scratch the platters. A silent but slow drive with read errors is the case this guide is for.
Prepare the destination disk
Connect a healthy disk that is a different physical device, with free space larger than the full capacity of the failing drive, not just the used part. An image keeps the original layout, so a 1 TB drive needs about 1 TB of space even if it was half empty.
Open the imaging screen
In FileFix Ultimate, choose Image a failing drive on the home screen, or open Disk health & tools and the Drive image tab. Run the app as administrator so it can read the whole physical disk rather than a single drive letter.
Choose source and image file
Select the failing drive as the source and type a path on the other disk, for example D:\Images\drive.img. The app checks the free space and blocks an image file on the drive being imaged. A .map file is created next to the image to record progress.
Start imaging and let it run
Click Start imaging. Readable areas are copied first; bad spots are skipped and retried a limited number of times later, then filled with zeros so the layout stays intact. Progress is saved every few seconds, so if the drive disconnects you can reconnect it and use Resume an interrupted image with the same file.
Scan the image, not the drive
When the result shows Image complete, switch the original drive off. Click Scan this image, or open Deleted file recovery, choose Disk image file and pick the .img. Save recovered files to a third location or another folder on the healthy disk.
Why an image beats scanning the drive directly
A recovery scan reads the same areas several times: once for file system records, again for signature search, and again whenever you preview or save a file. On a healthy disk that is harmless. On a drive with weak sectors every read can trigger long internal retries, heat and more errors. Imaging reads each sector once, in an order that gets the good data out quickly, and after that you can scan, filter and preview as often as you like without touching the drive.
What the .map file and zero-filled areas mean
The .map file records which parts of the disk have been copied, which were skipped and which failed. That is what makes resuming possible: when you resume, only areas that are not yet in the image are read again. Keep the map next to the image and do not rename either file between sessions.
Sectors that never become readable are written as zeros so that everything after them stays at the right position. Files that used those sectors may open with damage or not at all, while files elsewhere on the disk are unaffected. The result screen tells you how much could not be read, which gives an honest picture before you start recovering.
Common mistakes with a failing drive
Running CHKDSK first is the most common one. CHKDSK writes repairs to the file system and can remove entries it considers broken, which may be exactly the records a recovery scan needs. Copying folders in Explorer is another; it retries endlessly on the first bad file and stresses the drive for hours. Freezer tricks, opening the case or repeated power cycling can turn a recoverable drive into one only a lab can help with.
Saving the image to another partition of the same disk is also a trap, because it writes over the drive you are trying to rescue. The app refuses it.
When it won't work
- Drives that click, grind or do not spin up need a recovery lab with clean-room tools; software imaging can make the damage worse.
- If the drive is not detected by the PC at all, there is nothing to read; this is usually a controller, power or firmware fault.
- Areas that remain unreadable after retries are zeros in the image, and files that lived there can be damaged or missing.
- Imaging needs a destination with free space at least as large as the entire source drive.
How FileFix Ultimate helps
- Reads the source drive only and writes nothing to it; the image and its .map file are new files on the destination.
- Copies good areas first, skips bad spots and returns to them later, with limited retries and zero fill.
- Saves progress every few seconds so an interrupted image can be resumed with the same file.
- Blocks an image on the drive being imaged and checks free space before starting.
- Shows the SHA-256 of the finished image and opens it straight in the recovery wizard.
FileFix Ultimate is free for personal use, works offline and never writes to the drive you are recovering from. Business use needs a one-year licence per PC. Check the signature before you run it.
Frequently asked questions
Is a drive image the same as cloning a disk to another disk?
Both copy every sector. A clone writes onto a second drive, while an image writes into a file. For recovery an image file is usually more convenient, because you can keep it on a large disk next to other files and open it directly in the recovery wizard.
How long does imaging a failing drive take?
A healthy area copies at roughly the drive's normal speed, so a 1 TB disk can take a few hours. Regions full of bad sectors are much slower, which is why they are skipped at first. You can stop and resume, so it does not have to finish in one sitting.
Can I image a drive that has a BitLocker volume?
Yes, the image copies the encrypted data as it is. To get files out of it you will still need the 48-digit recovery key or the password; without the key the data cannot be read.