Hard drive error/ disappears

this isn't the first time, but it has been over a year

My main hd with the operating system disappear and of course no slave either.
Now not totally sure that is the only problem, but that was the problem last night.
I was moving some pics around into folders and all of a sudden desktop quit responding totally. Nothing.
I clicked power supply as it was totally frozen, and on reboot no hd.
I booted from a disk and it wanted to install windows, but where as no hd was recognized.

I admit I'm not totally sure what I did to find out the temp of the puter was about 148* F.
Fans (4) were all running last I checked and they do make a bit of noise that was usual.
Just me? I am not stressing as it is gone to a fair place, and he will Norton Ghost over my drive to a new one, so I don't expect to lose anything but a little cash. The price of the hd and a few $$. Just curious if I might be doing something to cause this. I have open windows, no screens in the same room as the puter and live on a ranch so it is extreme dust, but I open it and blow out the dust monthly. Probably hotter than most rooms, but I live in 100*F heat and so the puter is hotter than many others.
I'd buy another if I have to, but I prefer to spend any money on another laptop if I had to spend.
I hate installing progz I have too many and haven't formatted in so long I don't remember but it might be 4 years.. bad I know.

suggestions of wth if any. ty

Sounds like a hard drive failure, the heat may be tougher on a hard drive where you live. As you dust monthly that wouldn't be the cause. You have 4 fans, so that should be plenty of air circulation. You seem to be doing all you can to keep it going. Maybe the hard drive was just a faulty short-lived one. Some can last for years, others tend to die sooner.

I keep getting the sooner.
This guy can usually save my drive and I can chance it lasting again, or I just get another. Its a pain to go back in.