Is my hard drive dying and if so, how long does it have?

Symptoms (earlier today and for the past week or so):
-- too-frequent cycling noises
-- a weird pinging or clicking sound; it seems random but yet tied to opening applications or files
-- no chime on startup (that just started today)
-- increasing slowness, sometimes to the point of apps bouncing in the dock forever until I got tired of waiting and did a forcequit, or they just stopped on their own as if they were sick of trying, too. Everything, in every program, seems to take longer. Lots of spinning beachballs.
-- almost certainly unrelated, but perhaps worth mentioning: sticky spacebar and trackpad button (no spills, probably just dust and cat hair)
What I have done so far to fix it:
-- Repaired permissions
-- Ran the Apple Hardware Test (no problems detected)
-- Ran Norton DiskDoctor, which took quite some time and quit twice, first with a general disk error/try again message and then with an error 23005 message. It ultimately fixed everything it found.
-- Cleared out my hard drive as much as possible; I now have 6 GB available; it had been below 4 GB.
After taking the above steps, it SEEMS better. Apps are opening a little faster. It's cycling less frequently and the weird pinging noise is gone for the moment. However, it still isn't right.
I've backed my files up, but I work for myself and have critical stuff to do next week. I want a new hard drive eventually but now is a BAD time to have to stop and deal with that. Whaddaya all think? Can I keep crossing my fingers?
Many, many thanks...
Powerbook G4 Titanium Mac OS X (10.3.9) 768 MB SDRAM

Hi Cheryl,
It's not surprising that something seems fishy if you've inflicted Norton Utilities on your OS 10.3.x. You should uninstall it asap. Otherwise it will eventually destroy your OS. Here is one of several articles confirming that Norton no longer supports OSX. Try searching these forums for Norton if you need more convincing.
First thing I'd try is to Repair the directory on your hard disk. Boot to your Panther disk #1: insert disk, restart and hold down "C" key at the chime. When the Installer window appears, ignore it, go to the menu at upper left and select Disk Utility. In the DU window, select your HD volume at left, click the First Aid tab, and click Repair Disk. When it finishes, if it says "disk appears to be OK" then run it again to make sure, especially if it repaired anything. Run it until you get two "appears OK" reports in a row. If it can't repair everything, you'll need a stronger utility such as DiskWarrior, or TechTool Pro.
If your HD continues to sound strange (or, for that matter, if it doesn't), at least make sure you're backed up. HDs can fail without warning over just a few minutes. HTH

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Is my hard drive dying and if so, how long does it have?

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