Startup Volume disappeared completely

Hi all. hoping some of you can offer some advice.
My Powerbook G4 has lost it's startup volume. Completely.
I have run every test, tried everything in the book to get it back and nothing. Resetting the PRAM and tthe NVRAM, booting off the install CD, pulling out the battery and putting it back in, running fsck, starting in safe mode, trying to boot with x held down - - - absolutely everything. when I start up the machine normally, I am getting a bleeping croaking sound from the hard drive (yes, I think it has gone - died, even though it is only 14 months old) and the after the grey screen sits for about 5 minutes, I get the old school system 9 finder face/flashing folder icon. If I put the OSX CD in, it will go to the install OSX window (after alot of creaking, abnormal whirring and bleeping) but there is no startup volume to install on, and no startuip volume to repair in disk utility.
As mentioned, I think the Hard drive has failed and died forever, I will be happy to replace it, but just wanted others thoughts in case I have missed something. there is nothing on the HD I need to keep and a fresh one would probably do some good! In 10 years with macs I have never coome across this before!
I currently have a 100GB HD Machine is 1.67ghz + 2 GB Ram if anyone has any suggestions as to the type of hard drive brand I should buy please let me know. I will be doing the install myself.
One other thing. The machine worked fine until a week ago. The previous owner (i only just got it from a friend) dragged the applications folder plus some other folders off the machine and then it wouldn't start up - in case that gives any hiints as to why this happened.)
cheers
amanda

Amanda: If you are able to start the PB up in any way at all without a bootable CD or DVD inserted or a bootable external drive connected, then your hard drive isn't completely dead yet, and your OS isn't entirely hosed.
Starting up from a CD or DVD always produces lots of noises that the hard drive doesn't — those are normal for an optical drive. If you hear lots of unfamiliar noises when starting up from the internal hard drive (in Safe Mode, for example), or if you aren't able to start up from the hard drive at all, then the HD is either on the brink of total failure or already dead.
There are so many drives on the market today, and they are so similar and, in most cases, so inexpensive compared to two or three years ago, that it's very hard to recommend one in particular. Your original-equipment drive was 5400 RPM, and you'll want to replace it with a 5400 or 7200 RPM unit. Drives are currently available in sizes up to 160GB, and your last-generation Aluminum Powerbook can use any of the available sizes. Best current bang-for-the-buck deals are in the 80-120GB range; you still pay a considerable premium for a 160. The larger the drive's cache and the higher its rotational speed, the quicker it will be. A 7200 RPM drive will be slightly noisier and use slightly more energy than a 5400, but the differences are remarkably small.
Assuming you're in the USA, good places to survey the marketplace for new 2.5" ATA-6 (ATA 100) laptop hard drives are ZipZoomFly, NewEgg, and OWC.
People have widely disparate preferences between the offerings of different manufacturers. I've had good luck with IBM/Hitachi and Fujitsu drives, and bad luck with Western Digital. Your mileage may vary, as they say. Good luck!

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