I tried to start up my computer, but I only got clicking sounds from the HD and an error message that it could not detect the boot device. Does that mean my HD is broken? Can I still recover the data from it? I have a 4 year old Dell Dimension desktop.

That's really hard to diagnose based on what you have said here. It might help knowing the exact message. Have you tried booting from a floppy or bootable CD and then trying to read the drive?

Hi,
As another said, it's hard to determine whether it's a bad hard drive or not.
Clicking sounds do indicate a bad drive, but not always. My suggestion would be take it to a local computer repair shop, and let them check it out. You can also ask for an estimated cost.
Since your computer is 4 yrs old, there is a good probability that the hard drive has quit. Some, but not many, have quit after 2 yrs... including my own!
As the other answer indicated, try using a boot floppy to access the boot disc, then access the drive. Please post back if you don't have a boot floppy, and also what is your windows system, such as XP, 2000, etc.

I went to the Computer store and they told me that the hard drive is dead. So, I installed a new HD and it works great. Now I am just looking for ways to get my data of the old HD. They told me at the store that they could not do it because it is broken.

Did you try any of the things I suggested? I wonder if this store was just trying to sell you a new drive.

Without knowing whether you tried what I suggested, we can't tell how dead the drive is.

Yes, I tried to boot from a disk but it still could not read the drive.

Let me give you a tip. The more you put into a question, the better chance you have of getting a viable answer. Including information like EXACTLY what you did and what happened when you did it can help us diagnose problems. What versions of software, info about your hardware, error messages etc. are all important. Otherwise we have to keep asking for additional info.

Without knowing that info, I haven't a clue whether your drive is recoverable or not.

Hi,
You might take your hard drive to a different computer repair shop. Maybe a friend(s) knows a another shop. Get a second opinion on recovering your data from the old hard drive.
Best of luck.