UPDATE Dimension 8200 Hard Drive Problem

I took everyone's advice and started backing up my data to DVD in preparation for imminent failure. I ran the Maxtor diagnostic software and it showed a SMART attribute failure. I then DL'd a program called SIGuardian which listed the attributes and their values. The value for Reallocated Sector Count was in the failing range. Evidently there was data in bad sectors that had been moved. I was surprised to read that a surface scan would not show this since the reallocation portion of the drive is invisible to surface scanning software. Learn something new every day ! Also found out a whole bunch of other neat stuff about the drive. Presently running at 98 degrees, has 4093 hours of run time on it, has realocated 1988 sectors, etc. Cool program - wish I had a crack for it - expires in 30 days.

Thanks again for the help - maybe this will help someone else in the same situation.