I have been receiving this message and realize that my HD is probably going bad and need to replace. I have looked at Norton Ghost  and Powerquest Drive copy to help copy everything over to a new HD. My question is is there a special cable i need to hook current HD to new HD to allow this transfer to happen? I am trying to fix this myself and not have to TAKE it in. as I am typing this I do not know all the specs of my current HD.
and help is appreciated!
thanks Ghost and DriveCopy are used to create IMAGES on HARD drives, CD's, etc.  The "image" file is not bootable or usable in any way until it is restored BACK to the hard drive.  In addition to your bad hard drive, you will need a new hard drive AND something to back the old one on to.  OR, install new hard drive and copy entire contents of old drive to new drive.  Software with the new drive will allow you to do this.

Installing a PC IDE/EIDE hard drivethank you commando for the info you posted.
If this helps:  is there a specific interface cable i can use to easly transfer all the data from current HD to new? and will the new HD need to be powered up, etc...  and what software if any can perform this?
thanks again.
Cable and software will be included with new hard drive.  If new hard drive is not supplied power from your PC, it won't work at all.  There will be spare power connectors inside your PC.  If this is a NOTEBOOK computer, you will not be able to transfer in this manner.