dEAne :
Try this first>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDisk
I disagree, he should run a health scan on the disk first , then try and repair the drive if that comes out good. What's the point of trying to repair a physically damaged disk.
Personally I use Drive Fitness Test from IBM/Hitachi. At the shop we have had good results and very accurate testing.
Burnable ISO can be found here --
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/downloads/dft32_v416_b00.iso
This programs boots into a non windows environment and it is very straight forward.
Run a full scan on your drive.
If it comes back green you're good.
If it comes back red you're not good.
Western Digital Scan also works well. With these two programs it does not matter what brand drive you have. They will work for everything.