Simpletech 320gig hard drive crashed? Been working fine for months. Today the desktop shortcut

Question

Been working fine for months. Today the desktop shortcut was a red "?" and now my computer will not even see it. It turns on (red light is on) and blue lights on top just flash for a moment where they used to flash in a circle. There was a thunder/lightning storm the day before it stopped working. Could a surge have damaged it? I have TONS of photos on this baby and am scared I will not be able to get them back. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!