recover content from failing harddrive

[ironmanmf]

I have HDR31202 30 gig harddrive. Sent new harddrive to guy in chicago and he blessed it, then we installed it . Worked great for years. Now tivo is freezing, then plays,then freezes again. Harddrive problem? Can I unplug new harddrive to test if it is the bad one? how can I test the original harddrive?
This is all about saving original content. Please help

[classicsat]

You can run Diagnostics on either drive.

A DD_rescue copy can likely help, as can running Spinrite.