Please Help - Hard Drive Gone - Won't Mount - No AppleCare...

Hi guys,
I'm in trouble here..
I was loading a bunch of photos from an external drive to iPhoto and my iMac froze up for a long time.
I couldn't do anything at all - so I finally force-powered down.
When I powered back up - My Hard Drive was gone and Finder will not open.
Other applications in my dock such as web browsers, iTunes etc. seem to be unaffected - I can also access Disk Utility and other Apps through Spotlight, but No sign of my "Macintosh HD".
I ran a "Verify Disk" in Disk Utility - and here's the report it provided:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
---The "Repair Disk" Button in Disk Utility is all grayed out though so I can't run it...
I'm at a loss. I can't afford AppleCare, and they won't help me because I'm just out of my 90 day phone support...
I'm on an Intel Core 2 Duo iMac - the last Glossy White one before the new ones.
I've got the latest version of Tiger.
Any advice would be a Godsend. I'm afraid I may have ruined my iMac.
Thanks!

We usually try to give folks who come here simplified advice that keeps them comfortable troubleshooting and repairing their Macs and won;t raise other issues for them. Command line tools don't usually fall into the simplified category and fsck for Mac OS X Tiger is not recommended by Apple, except as a last resort. It is known to cause other issues.
From the Apple Knowledge Base article that Dale has linked below;
Note: If you're using Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you should use Disk Utility instead of fsck, whenever possible.
If you can successfully start up in Safe Mode or use Disk Utility while started up from a disc, you don't need to use fsck.
IMO, it isn't helpful for you to come along and contradict sound advice from folks who have used the Knowledge Base and are aware of Apple's recommendations because you think that you know better.

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