Can it be hot switched?
One option might be to boot form CD with the drive out, and then plug it back into the now powered up PC.
I had a very similar problem this week at work - one of our staff had selected about 2 Gb of temp files (long story, poor housekeeping) and hit delete - when it then took over half an hour to work through them, he powered down - leaving the HD with loads of files half deleted and the index trashed - no boot, no nothing.
In the end I had to boot from CD, re-install the OS and strip the files onto a server, before formatting, re-re-installing the OS, and then re-loading the salvaged files form the server.
Of course, if you cannot safely add the drive to a powered up PC you are not in a good place, but if you go to the university's computer section they may be able to lend you the card/cables to slave your toasted HD to your good PC and recover what you can onto the desktop machine.
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Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
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