What does it mean when my computer starts making a ticking noise

My computer (im on my brothers computer right now) is making a ticking sound on startup. Then it brings me to a screen that shows a blinking file with a question mark on it. I put in the grey disk and it took me to a screen that asked to choose a destination but there was no options to choose so i quit the installer but then it took me to another screen that had 2 options. The disk that is inside the computer and then network startup. I chose network startup and it then asked me to restart. So i did and now the computer is in the middle of restarting. Now it took my back to the Mac OS X page and is asking me to choose a language again...

a blinking file with a question mark
I put in the grey disk and it took me to a screen that asked to choose a destination but there was no options to choose
More than likely the hard drive is failing or failed.
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

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