i had windows xp installed but not active protection system. i turned the notebook upside down while it was running to open the keyboard screws and since then it has been making these noises and become undetectable. i guess the head couldn't park itself when notebook was turned upside down without APS installed.

can something be done about this to restore the position of the head?

otherwise can i pick any travelstar hdd and replace the head of this disk/?

do any members here offer such head replacement /data recovery service. how much will it cost?

any other simple ways to fix this problem?

thanks

Stop using the laptop until you have another hard disk.
Then use e.g. Acronis TrueImage to clone the hard disk (provided it can still be accessed).
You can't replace the head(s) yourself and AFAIK nobody on the forum offers such a service.
A recovery service will charge you anywhere from $500.- to several thousand $$ to save your data.
You did make regular backups, did you now?

@ irus: Please keep your questions relating to this issue in the thread that you have already started (my hdd just died t42), rather than starting a NEW (and very strongly related) thread. I am locking this thread, and kindly refer you to your initial thread on this subject (you may want to change the topic-title of that thread to be a little more informative/correctly descriptive).

Thank you for your help to keep this forum efficient to use and simple to seek information in!

Johan