The hard drive in a computer is a fairly reliable thing. After all, they run for many hours, and seldom fail.
The problem is, that when they do fail, there is often data stored on the drive that gets lost.
When a drive fails, though, it is for only 2 main reasons, one is that the disk inside starts to rub and make expensive noises, and the other is when the little circuit board attached to the hard drive, burns out somehow.
Hubby had such a drive, and has hoarded it for over a year now. It was from the sme computer that I am using now, but when it went bad, we lost all outr old email addresses, as well as a load of photos that I had taken, and despie Hubby suggesting that I should back them up, I had failed to listen to him.
Anyway, cutting a long story short, he bought a replacement circuit board for just around 40 bucks or so, and I have the photo's that I thought were lost forever, now saved.
Just in case any of you ever get a burned out hard drive, here is a link to the website. Just follow the instructions and advice:
http://www.onepcbsolution.com/.
That's another address worth bookmarking.