BleepingComputer.com: Hard Drive stops running

I'm about two days from taking a sledgehammer to my tower.

Just from past experience, your problem makes me wonder how hot your PC is running. In the past when I had systems with inadequate cooling, I had a lot of problems with freezes. In some of my old systems, they would heat up so badly due to lack of fans and cooling, that it would cause pauses and sometimes even crashes.

Not saying that this is necessarily the problem with your system, was just reading through the forums and your post caught my attention.

Heat could be a factor. But run the hard drive test again. If it shows errors, then there's either an issue with the hard drive, or with the controller on the motherboard.

Thanks, I'll try that when I get home!

OK, so I ran the diagnostic for a second time, and once again, it claimed it found "errors" and "fixed" them. Still, more of the same annoying pauses and sleeps. Clearly, I have to get a new hard drive. BUT, is it absolutely crucial as I don't have the funding for a new one right away? Or is it absolutely necessary, is my hard drive actually physically dying and could bite the dust without warning?

You can continue to use the hard drive - but you're going to have the problems that you currently have. And, as the hard drive dies, the problems will get worse.