Need To Know If Hard Drive Is Possible Dead!

Well I have a problem, I have a hard drive. It booted up once no problem, logged in, but later on when I came back the screen was different and what it looked like was that the computer was going threw a setup of some kind but it looked like it was locked up, so I manuelly turned it off but when turning it back on it said "insert disk drive". From my experience I'd say my hard is shot but I need more opinions. Thanx.

 

I am not a computer person... so this is a LAST RESORT suggestion, but a tech guy worked on a friend's machine where the hard drive was acting wierd and after trying everything else... he took out the hard drive and gave it a very light tap against the desk on the back corner (power suply plug area.) It worked after he did that, but he said it was a temporary fix at best and odds are it would mess up again. ((That was five years ago... later my friend gave me the computer and I am on it now... so far so good. *Knock on wood.))

Just thought it might help if ALL ELSE fails first.

Good luck.