This is an old revision of the document!
If you don't mind telling, what brand hardvride was it? I just had the same failure and that is the third IBM/Hitachi HDD that failed in my hands in last 4 years. They were all less that 1yr old.I'm sure you worked out your Linux question by now, but to leave a mark, I ran Knoppix DVD live distro during the HDD blackout (mainly to please my toddlers appetite for kid's games) and was happy with it. Now I put Ubuntu on the new HDD and am firmly determined to make everything I need work.