windows check disk works good for me.

Hi Volney,

I think every HDD manufacturer provides a tool for checking their disks. Just find out who made your HDD and search their website for a checking tool/SMART readout tool to check the internal "health registers" of your disk.
Repairing them is another story - normal errors (due to BSOD and stuff) are recovered by XP automatically and chkdsk works fine, too. More severe problems can't be adressed well by software AFAIK and require
you to contact your manufacturer.