Laura,
I did move the drive into another (identical) machine and it was just as slow. When it was attached to the freshly installed system it slowed that one massively, but it did eventually copy the files I needed.

It was just so weird, I've usually just had drives go belly up all at once.

number 6 - interesting! I'll give the cooling trick a try as the user is writing up a list of files he needs back so I can get them all at once instead of piecemeal. I'll be sure the drive's chilly first. Right now I've left it in the case but unconnected and there it will probably stay for eternity (I'll put a note on it in marker).

Thanks guys!

-Zeke