Very nice guys. So you're telling me if I install Vista, there's going to be a backup folder with all of her files from XP? I don't think it recognized any previous OS on the HDD so does that matter?
When you run the repair console it's VERY picky about recognizing an OS. Vista's repair console will only recognize Vista and sometimes not even then. The OS's boot loader and registry both have to be mostly intact for it to consider the OS recognized.
It's different during the install process though. If the hard drive itself is working and the Windows XP install is just messed up, Vista will see the C:\Windows folder, and C:\Documents and Settings, and just move all those files to a backup folder (at
worst it will leave them where they are and append .001 to the new folders it creates but it does not delete the old).
You should be able to tell when you start the Vista install process if the data is lost. It will ask you what partition to install to.. if the partition doesn't look right (should be like.. Partition 1 80GB.. 36GB free) then don't continue with the install, and don't let it reformat or anything like that either, because you'll need a better approach to save the data on there.
Btw don't forget you can do what desipower suggested and boot off your linux cd or a portable XP iso, see if the drive is accessible, back up the important data across network or to DVD's, run some disk check utils to make sure the drive is ok, then go do a reformat and OS install. If you can't access the drive from here then you'll need some data recovery tools.