Its the hard drive. My aunties partner tried to read the hard drive on something he had and it wouldnt work, he thought something inside might be out of place because of the noise it was making. My grandparents took it somewhere and the guy in the store said its dead and everything is irretrievable. My grandparents were going to get a new hard drive put it, but I know switching on my laptop and seeing nothing on there will hit me hard.