This may sound stupid, But can a hard drive be recovered if deleted?

I recently was given a Dell Demension 4100 computer ,it had tons of Viruses on it which I deleted with my antivirus . But then it was still freezing up and we had to shut it down .When restarted it kept reading , Invalid system disc,replace the disc and then press any key. We did not get any discs with it that would go with the computer. Is there anyway I could download any software or get the data back without replacing the hard drive?

This may sound stupid, But can a hard drive be recovered if deleted?antivirus scan

yes you can sometimes i can recover the whole drive even after its been formatted. Sure does take a while though.

This may sound stupid, But can a hard drive be recovered if deleted?computer security

you cant get any programs back however there are programs that will allow you to recreate the string for files, however this takes alot of time so it most likely isnt worth your trouble, you may have to just chalk up the loss unfortunatly :(
The Virus has killed all your programs but if you called Dell and ask them that you need all the disc for the Opearting System and Application that you recieve with your computer. Dell is always suppose to give it to you you just have to make sure to ask for it. But you will still lose all your work unless you have external drive which you can possible back up all your data if not proably got to start from scratch.
all the programs were apparently ruined by the virus's. you'll have to reformat the drive and install the operting system back on it.

it won't let me email you back.

email your phone number because there is something that needs chaged to use your cd.
What makes you think the hard drive is not failing also? If all you need is the data then a competent computer repair tech could help you, if you want the OS an all restored you are probably SOL, which is good because its a bad idea anyway.