Maybe the kick damaged the data structure and the drive no longer thinks there should be anything in the folder. Or another scenario would be that when the cpu fan stopped working the drive's file structure was corrupted, again resulting in data loss.
You've a few options, but if you deff need data from the drive you need to stop using it asap. Once you've done that either send it of to someone to take a look at it which is usually quite costly. Otherwise you need to have a bash with some software on your own.
HTH
romprod
