My brother's laptop fell onto the ground and needs help now

Hi fellow forumers, I accidentally dropped my brother's laptop and now the hard disk (i think) is broken.

Here's a copy of the report I've sent to Dell tech supp:

Problem Category: Storage
Operating System Type: Win XP

If you are getting an error, please include the exact text of the message.
-"Unmountable Boot Volume" during boot up;
"0F00:0244" during hard drive diagnostic

Description of problem.
-I crashed my laptop on the floor and whenever I try to boot it up, after the windows splash screen appears, a blue screen will appear displaying a message about Windows have to be halted to protect the hardware from damage or something like that and the error message Unmountable Boot Volume.

Description of any troubleshooting steps you have taken.
1. I've tried restarting the laptop.
2. I've tried starting in safe mode but I still get the same blue screen.
3. I've tried diagnosing the hard drive using the Dell Diagnosing Tool (I pressed F12 while the laptop is booting up and selected Diagnose) and got the following error codes:
"0F00:0244"
"Msg: Block 712063: Uncorrectable data error or edia is write protected"
After I press "Continue" or something like that, the same error code appear but with different block numbers, e.g. 5951999, 6692438, 7621157, 15982842, 15984482, 15985261, 15986040, 15986819, 15987598, 15988377, 15989156, 15989935, 15990714, 15991493, 15992272, 15993912, 15994691, 15995470, 15996249, 15997028, 15997807, etc. (I stopped the scanning because it took too long)


Some questions:
1. Is it possible that the HD is only loose?
2. Can it only be a software problem?
3. Would a data recovery firm be able to recover data from the (possibly wrecked) HD?

Thanks. Any help and advice would be appreciated

 

1. It is possible, you can try to remove and reconnect it yourself by removing the appropriate back panel underneath the notebook. Refer to the service manual on how to do it.
2. Given the symptoms it is highly unlikely that this is caused by a software problem.
3.Yes, a data recovery firm should be able to recover the data, but it will cost you a lot if the problem is due to an actual head crash, because then they will have to disassemble the hard drive and take out the platters and read with their own heads etc..

 

It could be the HD is loose but unlikely it's a software issue. You could also test the drive by hooking it up externally with an enclosure to see if another computer can read your bro's hard-disk.

 

or try anther drive, you can get one at best buy or CC with any easy return