I think my hard drive is dead/dieing, but I am not sure

[quartz01]

Hey guys

Before I start here are the specs..
PCChips M811LU
1.6ghz Duron
256mb Kingston RAM
16mb Tnt2 pro
250W Compaq PSU
Lite-on 52X32X52 CD-RW
Toshiba 48X CD-Rom
Maxtor 20GB 7200RPM 2mb Buffer hard drive
Its a back up rig for web-browsing

So anyways, I got the HD used. At first it worked as it should, but after a while when ever I told Windows to do something or when Windows was booting it would take FOREVER. The hard drive activity light would stay on but I wouldn't hear the hard drive and after a little bit I would hear 2 "clicks" and then the hard drive would start spinning.. but still slowly

After the 1st 2 weeks I got this message
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x000000ED (0x817802A*, 0xc0000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I just reformated and reinstalled Windows but my computer was still really slow. And the other day I got that message again

I check Microsofts website and found this
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q297185

but I still think its my hard drive... is it, or is it something else?

 

[NeoExtreme]

Yep I think th Hard Drive is toast.

 

[Samm]

I agree with NeoExtreme, it's probably knackered. Before you sling it though, might be worth checking it from viruses (include a boot sector scan) & run a disk checking utility over it (something other than scandisk). If you don't have one, you can download a freeware/shareware one easily enough

 

[ShadowFalls]

if there isn't any important data, the best choice is to go to Maxtor's website and get their diagnostic disk, run a low-level format (this will take awhile) this isn't like your standard format you may be used to, the error you get and the clicks can happen due to data corruption, I have had it happen before and the low-level format took care of it (after done the low-level format) check the drive for errors with the same disk