Removing a Hard Drive

[asdf]

Ok, background: A week ago or so my laptop began refusing to start up. There is a light that will blink if you try to turn it on and there isn't enough battery power, and that's all that happens now when i try to start the computer up. I've tried to figure out what is wrong but it is beyond me. It probably has something to do with me hitting it once out of frustration, but even after this attack it continued working for at least a half hour until i restarted the computer.

Anyway, as i was logging out, i received some strange error about X (i am using Ubuntu Gutsy) and it froze, so i forced it to shut off. At this point, the battery had been charging all day and was at full power. I pressed the power button to turn it back on, but, like i said, all it did was flash the low-battery light. I've tried turning it on with it plugged in, without it plugged in, both with and without the battery, and each time it says it doesn't have enough power to turn on. However, when i have it plugged in to the wall, the light that should come on to signify that it is plugged in doesn't, but it does receive enough power for the low-battery light to flash (it does not do anything when i press the power button without it plugged in and without a battery).

So after a week or two of fiddling with it, it turns out it is still covered under the extended warranty so i called Toshiba (it is a Toshiba Satellite A100) and they said that Toshiba would send me a box to package/send the laptop back to them to repair. Anyway, they mentioned that i might want to remove the hard drive if i want all of my data backed up, but did not mention how to do this and neither does their site (their site i believe explicitly states that they do not have instructions on how to do this). I have NO idea what it would even look like!

What i want to know is if anyone has an idea as to what is wrong with my computer or how to remove the hard drive. Thanks :)

Also, here is a picture from the manual if it is any help:
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/8167/thingxv8.png

EDIT: Ok, i finally figured out where the hard drive is, but i am still searching for ideas as to what could have gone wrong with the computer? Also, how sensitive is the hard drive? Are there any special precautions i should take while storing it? Thanks again.

[Liazon]

avoid static and dust. those are pretty big.

is there anyway you can get some PC expert to image the HD somehow, or get them to take it out?

[asdf]

I'm not sure, the computer won't turn on at all so i'm not sure what they can do. I don't think there's anything wrong with the hard drive though, but the person i talked to from Toshiba mentioned they "aren't responsible for loss of data" so i don't know if that means they wipe the hard drive of everything that comes in by default or what.

[haun]

If you can, id take it to someone who actually knows what they are doing (no offense) like a friend, and watch. Or if you are feeling particularly insecure take it to geeksquad, they have one in my best buy in denver.

[asdf]

Yea, i've already arranged with Toshiba to have it repaired or at least checked out, i was just hoping for an alternative that wouldn't take a few weeks (and is free ).

[haun]

haha i know how you feel