Definatly back up the data if you can get into the hard drive at all. If you can no longer access the hard drive, then you might want to try the "freezer trick." Many people laugh, but i use it all the time and have had it sucessfully work multiple times on certain types of HD failures.
1. Put HD in anti-static bag and then in a ziplock bag.
2. Place HD in freezer
3. Leave HD in freezer for somewhere between 15-30 minutes (anything over is OVERKILL and i have seen it decrease the chances of getting data).
4. Pull HD out of freezer and quickly put it in a working computer as a Slave drive, boot up, and hope that the HD will recognise and work for long enough to get your data.
If the HD slows down or starts to die again while copying data, take a can of air and spray it upside down on the HD (so the icy stuff comes out). Sounds stupid, but it's always worked for me to help keep the drive cool enough to continue to spin and get data off. If it dies all together while copying, just repeat the freezer process.
***Note*** If you get the drive running by means of the freezer method, i advise you to copy files in smaller chunks (single folders at a time), that way if it dies in the middle, you just repeat the freezer process and try again and you know exactly what you have and what you dont.
Hope this helps you out, and good luck getting your data!
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