HELP! My hard drive is corrupt, can't boot can't access files!

My Intel Mac won't boot. I took it to Genius Bar and they tried to get it to go into target disk mode with firewire but that doesn't work either as it doesn't see the disk. The guy at the Genius Bar told me to get DiskWarrior and that it would fix my corrupt disk. I didn't have the money to get it so I took my Mac home.
I get home and read online that DiskWarrior doesn't work on Intel Macs. He was trying to get me to buy something that doesn't work!
Now I'm stuck. Won't boot, can't get files off of it which I need for work for Monday.
What can I do to fix my Intel Mac and fast? Thanks for any help you can offer. I don't know what to do!

Will the Mac boot with the Install DVD? If so what happens when you Repair the HD with Disk Utility in the Utilities menu?

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    Csound1 wrote:
    Microsoft has not released the official exFAT file system specification, and a restrictive license from Microsoft is required in order to make and distribute exFAT implementations. Microsoft also asserts patents on exFAT which make it impossible to re-implement its functionality in a compatible way without violating a large percentage of them.[13] This renders the implementation, distribution, and use of exFAT as a part of free or open-source operating systems or of commercial software, for which the vendors could not obtain a license from Microsoft, not only technically difficult, but legally impossible in countries that recognize United States software patents.
    Can't help with that, if one is using a Windows machine then they are subjected to their rules and control.
    Limited support outside Windows and Mac OS X operating systems as of 2012, when most consumer electronic devices could only handleFAT12/FAT16/FAT32, rendering exFAT (and flash memory formats using it) impractical as a universal exchange format.
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    Older Windows NT versions up to Windows Vista without Service Pack 1 do not support exFAT.
    Irrelevant, Microsoft provides a free download of exFAT for Windows XP, and Vista shouldn't be running on pre SP1 anyway.
    Some distributions of Linux have begun to include support for exFAT. It is however, only available as a file system in user space, as it's not supported by the kernel.
    Irrelevant, OP is using Windows and OS X, not Linux and if they did Linux can read the files at least and transfer, which is all they care about really.
    Windows Vista is unable to use exFAT drives for ReadyBoost. Windows 7 removes this limitation, enabling ReadyBoost caches larger than 4 GiB.[14]
    Irrelevant, the OP's is intending to use it as transfer drive between Mac's and Windows for movies.
    The standard exFAT implementation only uses a single file allocation table and free space map. FAT file systems instead used alternating tables, as this allowed recovery of the file system if the media was ejected during a write (which occurs frequently in practice with removable media). The optional TexFAT component adds support for additional backup tables and maps, but may not be supported.
    Some relevancy, but only exFAT can handle 4GB+ files between Mac's and PC's, so the need outweighs the possible problem.
    The OP needs to follow the standard Windows practice of "safely removing hardware" before physically disconnecting the external drive. If a write is occurring, it won't allow disconnecting until the write is finished.
    Support for up to 2,796,202 files per subdirectory only.[1][nb 3] Microsoft documents a limit of 65,534 files per sub-directory for their FAT32 implementation, but other operating systems have no special limit for the number of files in a FAT32 directory. FAT32 implementations in other operating systems allow an unlimited number of files up to the number of available clusters (that is, up to 268,304,373 files on volumes without long filenames).[nb 4]
    Not a issue, only in extreme cases of a lot of small files. The OP plans to use it for movies which are usually large and take up a lot of space on the drive.
    IMMO It looks like you just ran off and copied something to argue your point when all the points are basically irrelevant.
    There is only one format that can easily share 4GB sized files between Mac's and PC's without further complications.
    It's ALSO possible to install MacDrive on the PC and format the drive on the Mac HFS+, but I didn't recommend that because I know it's a hassle just like third party NTFS writing software is a hassle on Mac's.
    If you so anti-Microsoft format, then you must know Paragon has to pay a license fee to Microsoft for using the NTFS format.
    At least with exFAT there is no fee to Redmond, at least not yet.

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