Takshaka

I need some advice on the best way to approach a data recovery operation. The HD in question is my boot drive, Windows XP, 1 TB. A few days ago I rebooted my computer and came back to see CHDSK had auto started it ran for a few hours, I left it unattended most of the time, but from what I saw it was reporting/fixing a lot of bad sectors, deleting corrupt attribute records and deleting index entries. There was a LOT of activity. Please don't ask if I have a recent backup... answering that question will only cause me a great deal of embarrassment and self-loathing :( On completion it rebooted to the Windows login screen, after logging in I got a windows explorer error message and my desktop was blank and the only thing it was possible to do was open Task Manager (couldn't even open the Start menu). I rebooted into Safe Mode, got the windows explorer error again. I rebooted again and tried starting up using Last Known Good Configuration but this triggered CHDSK again after which it was no longer possible to boot to the Windows Login screen, I get a Blue Screen registry error. I tried using the Win XP disc to attempt a repair installation but this too gave a registry error. At this point I realised (probably later than I should) that I was doing more harm than good and stopped, the computer has been off since then. So now I am in data recovery mode and want to make sure I have as much info as possible before doing anything! Priority 1 is to recover as many files as possible. If possible I would also like to get the windows installation bootable again, but that is a secondary goal. I am waiting for a new computer to be delivered next week and will probably wait for that before doing anything since it will be able to move files faster than with my laptop, I am also awaiting delivery of a HD enclosure to put the damaged drive in. The first thing I plan on doing is making an image copy of the drive onto a new HD and running the recovery operation on that to leave the old disc in tact in case anything goes wrong. Am I right in thinking that, using the right tools, I can make an exact duplicate of the data on the drive so that working on it for recovery will be exactly the same as working on the original drive? That is about as far as I have got with my plan since I don't know exactly which tools to use or in what order. Should I use a tool to recover files deleted/changed by CHKDSK first? Or should I use a more general data recovery tool? Or a HD analysis tool? I also have these specific questions 1. What are the best tools for making an exact clone of all the data on the damaged drive including any deleted file data etc? 2. Does the HD I put the image on need to be the same size or would a larger drive have advantages? 3. Will the fact that the computer I will be using to run any recovery tools will be Win7 whereas the HD to be worked on is a WinXP boot drive? 4. What tools are recommended for this data recovery operation and should they be used in a specific order? I am in need of a lot of guidance here! I will be very grateful for any help and recommendations you can give me. Thanks in advance