It is either the hard drive has failed or hopefully just a loose 
connection on the hard drive which can happen on a laptop over time. If 
you're comfortable opening the case and checking the connections do so, 
if you aren't comfortable with that, take it to a shop and they'll tell 
you for sure which is the problem. If the hard drive has failed, they 
may be able to replace it for a good price but then, unless you have the 
old installation disks, the operating system will have to be bought and 
installed.

One other set of options to consider; are there any computer hardware 
classes held in the area at a vo-tech school perhaps? Sometimes these 
classes will take on projects or assign the project to a student for a 
project grade. If there is info on the drive your friend would like 
saved, then some forensics work will be needed. This is a good project 
for the students also. The work would be free and if a hard drive is 
needed, you may find one on ebay or locally very inexpensively. Next, if 
there is no installation disk for the old laptop, rather than buying a 
new Microsoft installation disk, install a build of Linux, which is 
free. Depending on the age of the laptop and it's hardware your friend 
may be able to use Linux-Mint, if the resources aren't enough to let it 
boot up, then I'd next recommend Lubuntu. This will be the least 
expensive route.


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