Hard drive dying?

[Finlandboy]

My powerbook g4's hard drive is acting weird. this morning after reinstalling leopard for the 3rd time in 2 weeks (the printer drive never seemed to work, so i reinstalled, but thats beside the point), i turned on my computer and the folder with a question mark showed up (its never happened to my computer before)

so i booted from a external drive backup and opened disk utility and it didn't even see my internal drive, , so i just turned my computer off for a while

i turned it back on later that day and it booted from my internal drive, but it took an unusually long amount of time to boot. also my drive made weird noises, sounds exactly like it rubbing against something, but whatever it is it doesn't sound healthy.

so does any one have any suggestion as to what could be wrong with it, and if it does need to be replaced could someone plz point me to a reliable website for a replacement

 

[dpaanlka]

the printer drive never seemed to work, so i reinstalled, but thats beside the point

If your hard drive has physically failed, I'd wager a bet that it was indeed on point.

 

[Finlandboy]

If your hard drive has physically failed, I'd wager a bet that it was indeed on point.

so you think it was b/c i reinstalled so many times,

 

[dpaanlka]

so you think it was b/c i reinstalled so many times,

Reverse the cause and effect in that statement, and you're right on target.

 

[Finlandboy]

all rite, well then are you suggesting a replacement (the noise is pretty noticeable) and if you are, were would you suggest i get a replacement from (i really have no clue what kind of drive i need )