1.) Boot a linux live cd
2.)
Get dd_rescue and use that to make an image of the drive you can write to another (if you have one of equal or greater capacity to hand. Not an exact science)
OR
Photorec - great program gets just about everything you could possibly want off an HDD. Even if the MBR has corrupted partitions / partially overwritten or corrupted partitions.

Sorry to hear of your loss though - mechanical disks are very hard (and expensive) to come by these days :/