Error log Event ID - 51 - An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D

This machine and its pre-installed Samsung hard drive is barely 3 years old.

I've been checking the error logs for XP and I've started to see the

following error event. According to the log it is listed from 17/10/2007,

through to 5/11/2007, though curiously it isn't listed on the 3/11/2007, so

either I wasn't logged on that day or the error never occurred. I have no

other drive-related errors logged other than this one:

Event ID - 51 - An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D

I have the 160Gb drive partitioned into 6. These errors always seem to refer

to partition D. Now, I've searched and searched the Web for this, trying to

find possible solutions, with little success. The main consensus seems to be

that error events of this nature seem to have NO definite cause; they are

found in systems of varying configuration, with no commonality. Software

makers say it's hardware, hardware makers say it's software! The page on

MS's Help and Support suggests rather unhelpfully that if this occurs on a

primary drive (which it is), then "you should replace the device",

otherwise, there is no problem.

I have no problems writing to, reading from or accessing this Samsung drive;

nor am I hearing any "clicks of death". I've used chkdsk on all partitions

with only "minor" errors being reported and corrected, apart from one on C:

drive which could be related. I tried using /F but even after it ran during

bootup, the error remains:

CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the

master file table (MFT) bitmap.

CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.

Windows found problems with the file system.

I know drive failure can be spontaneous and catastrophic, but I have yet to

suffer any. The last time a drive died it was soley due to over-heating - I

had two drives in the case and one rather dodgy fan. The result was

predictable. This drive is in a state-of-the-art case with two fully

functional fans, and my health monitor says the HD is currently at 34C.

So, is this error really a portent of impending doom, or just a harmless

indicator of nothing in particular? All the SMART indicators for it show no

errors, and everything is "OK". Obviously it isn't that SMART...

Tim