I'm so sorry Evening :-(

I had the same thing about three months ago, it was horrible. And as you say, lots of people said 'Was the stuff backed up?'... no, if it was I wouldn't be so upset!

I found the computer shops I went to very unhelpful - they just wanted to install a new hd and wouldn't accept that I was more concerned about recovering the data that was on there than getting the computer working again.

One thing somebody told me that might have been helpful though - apparently a good data recovery company should have these special sealed, dust-free chambers in which they can put a damaged hard drive and read stuff. That's how the police do it I imagine. Because most of the time the problem isn't that the data storage is damaged, it's that the parts that connect the hd to the rest of the computer are damaged. Sorry I can't be more detailed or give the proper name for this process!

Needless to say the computer shop I went to couldn't do this, and by the time I went in to pick up the computer they had already replaced the hard drive and sent the original back to Toshiba for refund... They refunded my money after a lot of complaining, but I wish I'd known earlier about the data recovery chamber technique.

I don't really know how/where you can find someone who can do this - as I say you need a specialized data recovery firm, not just your local computer shop. Does anyone know more than me?