Hard Drive Failure

[allenplay]

A few weeks ago or so, my Macbook froze during the middle of a Software Update. I waited about 15 minutes, but then finally cracked. Since this update in particular required a restart, I was in in no position to force quit Software Update, so I did the only thing I really could do. I held the power button.

After restarting, I found the annoying flashing question mark, which meant that no operating system was detected on my Macbook. Something was wrong with the hard drive or the connections to/from the drive.

I went into Disk Utility on my Install Disc but the hard drive is not recognized.

My questions are:

1) Did my hard drive just fail coincidentally or was it likely something caused by Software Update?
2) Is there any way to recover my hard drive? I don't mind taking apart my Macbook. I do not wish to replace the hard drive with a new one or take it to an Apple Store, but I will to a last resort.
3) I'm having trouble starting up the Apple Hardware Test. My Mac shipped with OS X 10.5.2, so I held the "D" key during startup with the install disc 1 inserted in the drive, but the screen still went to the flashing question mark. How would I boot into the hardware test?

Thanks for any help!

 

[alust2013]

If you hard drive did indeed fail, it will need to be replaced, but as for the hardware test, try holding the option key at startup. That should give the option of booting from the disk.