I had a few people email me and ask about files that were on their crashed HD's and could it be recovered. The answer is yes and no. LOL typical huh!?
Your computer, no matter what system you are using, uses basically the same type of system for storing files and deleting them. When you delete a file it is not really deleted (Windoz machines) in fact you really are doig nothing to the file itself you are simply deleting the file reference in the FAT (File Allocation Table). This tells your computer that that spot (cluster, sector) is usable again and if it needs it, go ahead and use that spot for another file. So deleted files can be recovered. Now there are a few programs out there that claim to really delete a file. I will tell you from experiance that not all of them work as they claim they do.
Now as for the crashed hard drive. The files are all still there, if your operating system is corrupted and you can't even get the OS to open, you can still have your important files recovered. Becasue the recovery process doesn't have anything to do with your HD's OS. Again using the right hardware and software the files are pulled from the HD regardless of the OS, Unix, Linux, Mac, OS2, Windoz, Any of them are recoverable. This goes for PDA's and Cell Phones also. So if you have a crash, and you just have to have the files back, they can be recovered by the right person or company.