Girlfriends computer doesn't seem to want to boot up. Got the following error code :

Windows has encountered a problem communicating with a device ...
File bootbcd
Status of 0xc00000e9
Info: an unexpected i/o error has occurred

Trying to do windows restore but I just get a blank screen and a cursor load up and that's it

No idea what the error message means but I have had recent experience with failed hard drive, two members of my family had problems. One with a failed RAID 0 array too.

Managed both times to get the stuff off the hard drives and onto new media.

http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/ - Is something I haven't used but comes with everything, and more, of what I did use on my Ubuntu live USB key. Had to install it all myself though, whereas this comes with it.

You should be able to check, with the software included, the health of the drive.

bootmanager is corrupt. depending if its windows 7 or vista, different ways to fix.
Just google bootbcd repair.

It's windows 7.

I tried using the windows repair option but nothing happened. Figured I could try using a Win 7 CD to restore it, but by that point I couldn't be assed. Also figured if it's corrupted itself, is it not going to do it again in the near future?

Grab a copy of Hirens boot CD and use the HDD testing and recovery tools on there, that's your best bet if you want to try with the least hassle.

I've tried using Hirens before for different things and never really made much progress with it!

I'll try using a Win7 DVD and going through the recovery progress shown in this tutorial first I think:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

The urgency is off as I've dusted off my old computer which seems to be ok for the GF to carry on doing her PHD. Thankfully she'd got everything backed up on portable HDDs, so nothing has really been lost.