Don't know how much truth is in this, guys, help me out here.
I have heard that since the the drive markings (magnetic) are done when u partition your hard drives, since they are "magnetic" they tend to lose their markings once in a while.
This is ever so true for the Compaqs, I just went 5 months on my Presario 5008, it will start giving you fat errors. Once repartition is done, it is fine.
I have heard techs say once a year is good enough, but I find with Compaqs it is a little more than that. Also it performs better if you wipe it x 2 a year, I average about 3.
Think the hard drives are fine, u just need to repartition the drives.
And this is why I do regular backup with Norton Ghost. I make it easier, once I have reformated and partitioned my drive, I ghost out the drive, then it only takes me 10 minutes to put the image back on my hard drive, not hours.
Hope this helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!