i have a drive that my son inadvertantly formatted...and it still found the files and restored them. Nothing had been written on the drive..it was blank...but the files are still actually there.
Not sure if it would work on a drive that has a mechanical problem , however.

This brings up another point, though...your drive isn't really blank when you delete all your stuff. it still can be recovered, so if you have things you don;t want others to see, you need to do more than delete.

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together.
All things connect......Chief Seattle, 1854