cannot boot and hard disk makes noises

[Athul]

Dear All,
2 Hours ago, while working on my pc, a blue screen came and my computer shut down. when restarted it started to make clicking noises, i suppose from the hard disk. and wouldnt boot into windows.
after the initial compaq screen a black screen comes saying
something intel
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM and keeps on doing this.

my system is a presario v2000 2004 model with 80gb hitachi travelstar. is there any way i can recover my data as school is starting in a week and all my papers are on it..

Please help...deperately need it
Thanks
Athul

[Patrick Wallek]

If you can put this disk into another system as a slave drive, you MIGHT be able to get your data off.

But if the disk really is making abnormal noises, then that does not bode well. An option may be a data recovery service but that can be expensive.

This is why backups, even on PCs, are important.

[Athul]

I forgot to mention that it is a laptop....so there is no way of making a slave drive out of it....

or is there??

[Torsten.]

Yes, it is.
You probably need an external USB chassis and put the drive into it.
But consider your drive is already bad and won't be accessible anymore.
This should remind you the importance of regularly backups.