yup..hey Vile, we're in the same business..I been at it about 14 years..the 4 clicks are usually a seek problem/motor problem, etc. Usually indicates that the hard drive's a gonner..depending on how much you have to spend, there are drive recovery places (only one that springs to mind is Ontrack, in Oregon somewhere).
I regularly back everything up to CDR's, and out of 105, only one's gone south on me..;) I have a (ahem) short list of about 1,600 sites of freestuff for Bryce, Poser, Wings, Fonts, etc., that you might be able to re-download, if you're interested, I can email 'em to you at some point.
good luck.

I wish I'd said that.. The Staircase Wit

anahl nathrak uth vas betude doth yel dyenvey..;)