Creating a disk image (cloning) using DMDE
All shown imaging features are available in the free demo. The demo offers limited free file recovery. To recover larger number of files purchase a life time license so you're prepared for future disasters.
DMDE Express (one year) - https://www.disktuna.com/go/dmde-expr...
DMDE Std. (life time) - https://www.disktuna.com/go/dmde-std/
Any serious data recovery specialist will always start by cloning or image a drive he needs to recover data from. At home you can use the free demo version of DMDE to do so as well, the 'raw' sector-by-sector disk image can be used with any serious file recovery software.
Advantages of disk imaging and cloning are:
Safety net: If something happens to drive or it's condition deteriorates we have a copy of it.
Generally, as the drive is sequentially read during the imaging process, we put less stress on unstable devices compared to a file recovery tool doing lots of non sequential and even duplicate reads.
Generally file recovery tools can get stuck if working with a device that produces a lot of read errors.