Computer harddrive problems

[nickmp0wer]

So i came back from a trip and my computer was restarted for some reason an it was at one of the first screens that said not a valid system disk, eject and press enter. There wasnt a floppy but there was a office xp or something cd in it so i took that out and just restarted it. it came to the same screen and one of the harddrives made clicking noises for a couple minutes. what the hell gives? the computer is like a year old. it was the C: drive

[Charlie]

Your HD is toast. If it's a retail box, call them and request a warranty replacement. If not, go purchase a new HD and stick XP on it. Stick the old HD in the freezer for a few hours (more like a day), and set it as slave. Boot up to the new drive with the OS installed and see if you can pull data off the old drive.

-Charlie

[Jordan]

What Charlie said. The freezer trick has worked for me many times, but you only get 5-10 minutes of use out of it before it dies again. Normally you can repeat the process if you need to.

[george graves]

Yep - I had never hard of the freezer thing and tried it on a whim. It's worked sever times - enough to get my important files off - Also shaking the drive gently work for me as well.

[nickmp0wer]

well i didnt really have much important stuff on it cause i just got it from my dad but i spent a long ass time setting it up the way i like it. the 2 harddrives in the computer are both the same, should i be worried about the other one? what harddrive should i get? the current ones are 200gb but maybe i will get one 400gb

could it have been caused because i had the computer on the carpet?

[george graves]

Sometimes drives just go bad - others have manufacturing prolbems - Like the IBM Deskstars.

Carpet is fine. Try not to jar your computer when the drives are running. Every 6 months or so crack the case open and blow out the dust - computers on the floor seem to suck in more dust then others.

..

[armeN]

i doubt you're gonna get anything off the drive. and it is warrenty convered. good luck