Was this an internal or an external hard drive?
If internal, I have no suggestion.
If external: an external hard drive actually consists of an internal hard drive plus a controller (an itty bitty computer). The controller is much more likely to fail than the actual hard drive in your unit.
It's worth opening the case and pulling out its internal drive, then plugging it into an external hard drive controller (Amazon has some for $20-30). You may find that all your porn is still there.
I've had luck with this technique several times.