Confirm head crash?

Question

I have a 2.16 GHz, 2nd-gen black MacBook. I bought it last January at a reseller in Korea while on a short visit there.
I live in Japan now. The last head crash was in May, and I managed to find a PC support company nearby that replaced my hard drive under warranty. Unfortunately, I lost five month's worth of data.
And now this again. I'm not too sure this time, though - the last time, the clicks were distinct. This time, though it makes a very small grinding noise at regular intervals, it doesn't click. This happened after my Ubuntu system ran a disk check. After returning a screenful of errors, the disk check stalled. When I rebooted, it got stuck on the gray screen. PRAM reset didn't work, either.
Plugging in my external drive with OS X Leopard installed didn't work while the internal disk was still inside. I've taken out the internal disk and put it in the freezer for now.
I had backed up my data, but had temporarily erased it to make room for my dad's stuff while he reinstalled his system. Horrible timing. Among other things, I lost the TeX file for a 90-page document I wrote.
I'm fed up with this. Is this an inherent problem with MacBooks? I keep my laptop on my desk all day; it hasn't traveled outside since I bought it in January. Our house is air-conditioned pretty well so temperature shouldn't have been a problem. Both times, it was the internal drive that went. This seems to be happening with any drive that I put in the MacBook.
What's the policy on refunds/replacements? I read somewhere that a full refund is only possible within 14 days of purchase, but could I get a refund from the reseller? If it's true that this MacBook likes to eat hard drives, then it's practically useless. And I've only used it for eight months!
I would really appreciate advice and information.

Answer 1

Yes the reseller had a stock of the older MacBooks they were trying to get rid of for a lower price. At the time, I thought it was a bargain, but as it turns out, buying a 2nd-gen wasn't such a good idea.
Yesterday, I took the drive out of the freezer to see if it would be recognized. Not much luck, as it made the same sounds it had before, eventually beginning to screech; I presume that would be the head gouging into the platters. gparted (Linux partition editor) managed to see the partitions, though, as well as a few directories - for five seconds before conking out again.
Could it be that it's because this drive isn't Apple-specific? I purchased it off of OWC, but it doesn't have the apple logo on it.
Yes, it's difficult to get much support here - I don't know the language, and the Japanese do not know much English. It took a while to find the PC support center in Osaka (the nearest Genius Bar is in Tokyo, and even that's several hours away by Shinkansen).
If I send this in to Apple for a repair or refund, do I have to send the broken drive? Last time, the Japanese repair person said he'd return it along with the new drive, but for some reason it didn't come back. I'd like to keep it and open it up..
Also, during the last repair, he asked me for the laptop's serial number. When I told him, he said something about it being purchased in mid-2007, which isn't exactly true. I guess that's because it was imported, but would they change that to January if I fax/email them the receipt?
Thanks for your responses so far!
Message was edited by: undefined117