Hard drive cant read-Live CD?

[noopypoop]

So , the hard drive on my mom's laptop just pooped out, and the read test on a diagnostic tool we used failed,so for whatever reason, the drive cannot read. What I was wondering was, if I booted into a live CD
on the computer, would I be able to see the contents of the drive or no? I need to know because since it's an old computer, if the hard drive is completely shot, we might as well get a new one, and there is some data that she needs that we havent backed up already.On a worse note, my dad was downloading the update for his blackberry storm when the computer crashed, and I guess it half-bake patched it, so almost none of his apps work, and his contacts were erased.

Any suggestions?

[nevermind1534]

Linux doesn't always have full support on older hardware. Only having partial (but not functional) hard drive support is a common thing with some older hardware.

[Oneslowz28]

never hurts to try

you might be able to get an adapter to convert it to USB and see if you can get the data off using a unbuntu box.