14
Yeah definitely check the basics before you do anything drastic.
Then try booting up Knoppix and see if knoppix sees your HD. It will mount it and place an icon on the Desktop if it detects it.
Or use a Windows Pre-Install Disk such as
this one.
Can you hear your Hard Disk spinning when you power up your computer?
There are tricks to "try" and get Dead HDs to spin again for a short period of time so you can get data off.
I've seen people place their HD in a zip lock bag and freeze it and plug it back in and stuff like that. Or sometimes dropping it lightly can unstick a stuck HD.
Dont try this unless its your last option.
As always, people should always have a program to monitor S.M.A.R.T.
Read this for more info (i dont actually recommend that program btw)
Hard drives do fail quite a bit and SMART can help to tell you before it does.