Can I save my files from a failing hard drive?

Sorry if this is kind of long. I booted up the system off the Mac OS X disc after getting startup errors. I ran the Disk Utility and it could not verify or repair the hard disk. S.M.A.R.T. status reads "failing" in red. My best guess it that the hard drive is on it's way out. Tried to save my files by making and image file of the hard disk and putting it on an external drive, but I got an error and it wouldn't save. Put the system in Target Disk mode and tried to access the files from another Mac connected via FireWire, but it wouldn't mount on the second Mac's desktop. I checked Disk Utility and it was creating multiple images of the first Mac's hard disk and failed to mount. Is there any other way to retrieve the files from the failing hard drive? I'd appreciate any assistance on this.

Maybe, but at this stage, I'd boot from a data recovery tool, such as those listed on my FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html#RECOVER
If none of those work, you may want to consider a data recovery service, depending on the value of the said files.
Moral of the story, always backup your data*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
It is not a question of if data will be lost, but when.

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