I know practically nothing about computer matters (as witnessed by my own 'Virus' thread), but my first question is this: Just because the part that loads the OS in the first place, does that mean that the data is truly lost? Can the computer be taken to an expert to see if the data can be salvaged?
One thing I really hate is when people give advice on what you should have done after the fact, but in this case I feel like I have to. I too have a huge music collection, and I keep it on an external hard drive separate from the main computer. If your father's information can be saved that would be my suggestion for the next step.
Good luck with this. I know how I'd feel if all that was gone.
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