Dell laptop is locked up. Diagnostic says it's an issue with the hard drive.   Need it fixed and documents recovered.  

Y'all recommend someplace close to my area that is trustworthy?

It will all depend on exactly what's wrong with the drive, if it can be read at all, you can just install a new drive in the laptop, reinstall your OS, then use a special cable to try to pull data off the original hard drive.  If it can't, you may need to use a hard drive recovery service, which can get pricey if they need to open the drive up in a clean room and try to recover the data directly off the platters.  Had to do that at work once, twenty years ago, using Cherry Systems.  

Thanks for the reminder that I need to run another backup on my home system...

I have a 'device' that one can plug a hard drive into to recover data IF the drive isnt physically damaged. I have taken a few drives to Cherry systems in the past that were physically damaged and they were unable to recover data. I'm in Acworth and we've actually met a few times before. I'm kevins older brother.

The Computer Chick off Due West is great and has good prices.

http://thatcomputerchick.com/


I've got stuff to read a harddrive after it's been pulled if you want to swing by one day. I'm in your AO.

1. Remove drive and connect to a working system, configure it as a second drive.  Possibly, JUST the boot tracks are the issue.  If so, you will be able to view the files on the drive and copy them off.
2. If the drive is not recognized, take a few cans of "air" and blow them upside down slowly to "freeze" the drive, and especially the electronics board on one side.  If the issue is a failing chip, this can make the drive work long enough to extract the data.
3. If above does not work, engage an expert, BUT be SURE they truly know what they are doing.  Recovering drives is an art, and not commonly practiced.  Most "computer" shops are not experts on that.

Then, get a Google Drive and copy all your stuff there as a backup from now on.

ALL hard drives will fail, typically in about 3 or 4 years.  If you have one, look at getting an SSD and many come with a cable and software to clone you existing drive.  The SSD lasts a LONG time, and you can keep the old HD for a backup.

If I could do all that, I wouldn't have asked for a place to take it to!  

Took it to a place yesterday in the early afternoon.   Thanks for the advice, y'all.