[Fairuza]

No-one wants to admit their hardware is on the way out because it's a bad case scenario but if it is, then it is. Can only know the status of the hardware, after it's been checked. In a few minutes, I'll be taking the bits to a specialist to see if we can (or can't) rule this out.

Thanks for your replies, guys. I will let you know how I get on.

[EricB]

I say bad hard drive. use hiren boot cd to test it

[Fairuza]

The drive is destroyed. Nothing could be saved.

There's nuthin' wrong with the PSU (thankfully).