HELP!  Is My Hard Drive Toast?

Thanks in advance for your help everyone.
I'm running Tiger on my Macbook Black. Last night I was editing photos in iphoto and I got the spinning wheel. After waiting a few minutes it was still there so I performed a force quit on iphoto, Mail, Safari and all the other open applications.
Still had the spinning wheel. So I clicked the apple icon in the top left corner, and clicked restart.
But the computer just won't reboot. I get to the "dunnnggg" sound, but the screen just stays grey after that. But the Apple logo doesn't appear. I've tried shutting down (by holding the power on/off switch for a few seconds) but still no joy.
I do have a bootable back up on an external drive (made with Super Duper). I don't have the Tiger DVDs but I do have band new Snow Leopard DVDs (I am planning to upgrade when I get around to it).
Any ideas please folks? Is my HD toast? What should I do? I've heard of starting in safe mode but not sure how to do it or if it will even help.
Thanks in advance!
Cheers
Steve

If you're up for it, you could try removing and reconnecting the internal hard drive, just in case. There is the possibility you've got a bad connection. Instructions here (it's not hard, and the risk of damage is minimal):
http://www.macinstruct.com/node/130
Those are accurate; I can't get the Apple link right now since the knowledge base is broken (again!).
If reconnecting the drive brings no joy, it's time for a replacement. I personally like going to NewEgg.com for replacement hardware.
What you'd need is a 2.5" drive that is no more than 9mm tall. These drives come in sizes up to 500GB (for a reasonable price anyway!).
~Lyssa

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    View Solution.

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